Implementation of a platform for analyzing the cellular immunity induced by immunizers produced by the Butantan Institute: Protective cellular immunity in response to viral infections

• Grant number: 23/13992-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: December 01, 2023
• End date: August 31, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Immunology - Cellular Immunology
• Principal Investigator: Eliana Faquim de Lima Mauro
• Grantee: Sarah Natalie Cirilo Gimenes
• Host Institution: Instituto Butantan. Secretaria da Saúde (São Paulo - Estado). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 21/11944-6 - Continuous improvement of vaccines: Center for Viral Surveillance and Serological Assessment (CeVIVAS), AP.CCD

Abstract

The vaccination has been recognized as a global consensus in public health field. Vaccines are biological products capable to induce an immune system response to protect the individual vaccinated against infection/reinfection or the clinical manifestations of infection. Vaccines may contain one or more components of the pathogen that promote the activation of immune system efficiently, which guarantees the establishment of protective and long-lasting immunity. However, the effectiveness of a vaccine does not only depend on its ability to induce an immune response, but also on other factors such as the individual's characteristics, demographic factors and circulating variants of the pathogens, which is the basis for constant studies involving these factors focused to improving the vaccines productions. In this context, the project "Continuous improvement of vaccines: Center for Viral Surveillance and Serological Assessment (CeVIVAS)" - approved by FAPESP (2021/11944-6) aims to contribute to the multidisciplinary information to vaccine improvement proposals from the Butantan Institute. In this project, we aim to contribute to the implementation of methodologies and analyzes for inducing cellular immunity in response to viral vaccines produced by Butantan Institute. To reach this goal, the focus of the project is to establish methodologies for analyzing the phenotype of specific T cells generated by vaccination, which indicates the protection induced by the vaccine. Thus, the aim is to evaluate the response of TCD4+ and TCD8+ cells from vaccinated individuals against the viral subtype used in immunization and against the variants circulating in the population and then, contribute with consistent results that will be integrated with genomic surveillance studies, humoral immunity, sociodemographic health and environmental data.