Systems Biology to Identify Biomarkers of Neonatal Vaccine Immunogenicity

Summary

Infection is the most common cause of death in early life, especially for newborns and can be reduced by immunization but insufficient knowledge of how vaccines protect the very young limits their optimal use. To gain insight into how vaccines induce protection of the most vulnerable, this National Institutes of Health (NIH)/National Institute of Allergy \& Infectious Diseases (NIAID)-funded Human Immunology Project Consortium (HIPC) study, based at Boston Children's Hospital and conducted by the Expanded Program on Immunization Consortium (EPIC), employs two novel approaches studying newborn responses to hepatitis B vaccine (HBV): (a) systems biology that uses technologies which comprehensively measure global changes in molecules such as transcriptomics (RNA) and proteomics (proteins), as well as cell composition of the blood and (b) use of human newborn blood components, collected prior to immunization, to model vaccine responses in vitro (outside the body). Characterizing vaccine-induced molecular patterns ("signatures") that correspond to vaccine-mediated protection will accelerate development and optimization of vaccines against early life infections of major global health importance.

Timeline

Start

2017-09-06

Primary completion

2022-08-29

Completion

2022-08-29

Publications

• Background Amenyogbe N, Levy O, Kollmann TR. Systems vaccinology: a promise for the young and the poor. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2015 Jun 19;370(1671):20140340. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2014.0340.
• Background Lee AH, Shannon CP, Amenyogbe N, Bennike TB, Diray-Arce J, Idoko OT, Gill EE, Ben-Othman R, Pomat WS, van Haren SD, Cao KL, Cox M, Darboe A, Falsafi R, Ferrari D, Harbeson DJ, He D, Bing C, Hinshaw SJ, Ndure J, Njie-Jobe J, Pettengill MA, Richmond PC, Ford R, Saleu G, Masiria G, Matlam JP, Kirarock W, Roberts E, Malek M, Sanchez-Schmitz G, Singh A, Angelidou A, Smolen KK; EPIC Consortium; Brinkman RR, Ozonoff A, Hancock REW, van den Biggelaar AHJ, Steen H, Tebbutt SJ, Kampmann B, Levy O, Kollmann TR. Dynamic molecular changes during the first week of human life follow a robust developmental trajectory. Nat Commun. 2019 Mar 12;10(1):1092. doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-08794-x.
• Checkervarty AK, Shannon CP, Blimkie TM, Dhillon BK, Falsafi R, Angelidou A, Diray-Arce J, Bennike TB, Archer NM, Idoko OT, McEnaney K, Ozonoff A, Odumade OA, Ben-Othman R, Smolen KK, Steen H; EPIC-HIPC Consortium; Kampmann B, Kollmann TR, Levy O, Lee AH, Hancock REW, Tebbutt SJ. Newborns with sickle cell trait have distinct peripheral blood molecular signatures across the first week of life. Blood Red Cells Iron. 2026 Jun;2(2):100051. doi: 10.1016/j.brci.2026.100051. Epub 2026 Mar 31.
• Dhillon BK, Blimkie TM, Idoko OT, Ford R, Angelidou A, Ben-Othman R, Montante S, Amenyogbe N, Dibassey T, Diray-Arce J, Falsafi R, Imam A, McEnaney K, Odumade OA, Ozonoff A, Pomat WS, Richmond PC, Smolen KK, Wariri O; EPIC-HIPC Consortium; Levy O, van den Biggelaar AHJ, Kampmann B, Kollmann TR, Lee AHY, Hancock REW. Population-specific heterogeneity in ontogeny of the broadly-conserved blood transcriptional program during the first week of life. Nat Commun. 2026 Jun 1;17(1):5673. doi: 10.1038/s41467-026-73244-4.
• Diray-Arce J, Syphurs C, Hoch A, McEnaney K, Smolen KK, Wariri O, Imam A, Dibassey T, Cole F, Ceesay F, Darboe A, Pomat WS, Ford R, Masiria G, Joseph D, Jude J, Ben-Othman R, Shannon CP, Thomas S, Leroux-Roels G, Clement F, Waerlop G, McLoughlin C, Vignolo SM, Rao S, Amenyogbe N; EPIC Consortium; Odumade O, Angelidou A, Tebbutt SJ, Marchant A, Kollmann TR, Levy O, Richmond PC, van den Biggelaar AHJ, Kampmann B, Idoko OT, Ozonoff A. A randomized prospective study of neonatal hepatitis B vaccine immunogenicity in The Gambia and Papua New Guinea. J Allergy Clin Immunol Glob. 2026 Feb 6;5(3):100653. doi: 10.1016/j.jacig.2026.100653. eCollection 2026 May.
• Montante S, Ben-Othman R, Amenyogbe N, Angelidou A, van den Biggelaar A, Cai B, Chen Y, Darboe A, Diray-Arce J, Ford R, Idoko O, Lee A, Lo M, McEnaney K, Malek M, Martino D, Masiria G, Odumade OA, Pomat W, Shannon C, Smolen K, Consortium TE, Ozonoff A, Richmond P, Tebbutt S, Levy O, Kampmann B, Brinkman R, Kollmann T. Breastfeeding and Neonatal Age Influence Neutrophil-Driven Ontogeny of Blood Cell Populations in the First Week of Human Life. J Immunol Res. 2024 Jul 23;2024:1117796. doi: 10.1155/2024/1117796. eCollection 2024.
• Idoko OT, Smolen KK, Wariri O, Imam A, Shannon CP, Dibassey T, Diray-Arce J, Darboe A, Strandmark J, Ben-Othman R, Odumade OA, McEnaney K, Amenyogbe N, Pomat WS, van Haren S, Sanchez-Schmitz G, Brinkman RR, Steen H, Hancock REW, Tebbutt SJ, Richmond PC, van den Biggelaar AHJ, Kollmann TR, Levy O, Ozonoff A, Kampmann B. Clinical Protocol for a Longitudinal Cohort Study Employing Systems Biology to Identify Markers of Vaccine Immunogenicity in Newborn Infants in The Gambia and Papua New Guinea. Front Pediatr. 2020 Apr 30;8:197. doi: 10.3389/fped.2020.00197. eCollection 2020.

Drugs

Indications

No indication recorded.