Older adults are at significantly higher risk of viral infection morbidity and mortality, yet the reason why age compromises anti-viral immune responses is poorly understood. A significant factor that may influence anti-viral responses may be how exposed that individual has been to previous viral infections throughout their lifecourse. The hypothesis of this project is that this prior viral exposure will be an important determinant of how older adults activate innate immune anti-viral responses in immune cells. Aim: To determine how prior exposure to viruses affects the activation of anti-viral innate immune pathways in immune cells from older adults. Objective: To screen innate immune anti-viral immune pathways activation in immune cells from older adults and investigate how prior exposure to common viral infections influences these responses.
Research design: Immune cells from a specific older adults cohort (nursing home residents (NHRs), n=40) have been stimulated with common activators of innate anti-viral and inflammatory immune responses. This project will use these biobanked samples and investigate how anti-viral and inflammatory responses are being activated and regulated using ELISAs and qPCR. This newly generated data will then be analysed with respect to available data on this cohort in relation to their prior exposure to common viruses, as well as clinical phenotype (e.g. frailty status). This work will generate two primary key outputs: (i) A characterisation of how anti-viral related innate immunity is activation and regulated in a cohort of NHRs and (ii) Analysis of how prior viral exposure may influence the activation of innate anti-viral responses.
