Antigen-specific T helper cells present in peripheral blood at very low frequencies are capable of rapid clonal expansion during antigenic challenge. The exquisite specificity of this response provides for activation and expansion of a very select cohort of T cells, a feature we have used to directly identify and quantify human epitope-specific T helper cells from peripheral blood. Soluble tetr...

INTRODUCTION The risk of poor vaccine immunogenicity and more severe influenza disease in HIV necessitate strategies to improve vaccine efficacy. METHODS A randomized, multi-centered, controlled, vaccine trial with three parallel groups was conducted at 12 CIHR Canadian HIV Trials Network sites. Three dosing strategies were used in HIV infected adults (18 to 60 years): two standard doses over...

BACKGROUND Avian H7N9 virus emerged in China in February 2013 and has since spread widely among China's poultry, causing numerous human infections. OBJECTIVES To compare World Health Organization (WHO) and US commercial influenza assays in detecting avian H7N9 virus in poultry cloacal specimens. STUDY DESIGN Between April 6 and July 15, 2013, 261 cloacal swabs were collected from commercial...

In this study we assessed the effects of antigen exposure in mice pre-sensitized with allergen following viral infection on changes lung function, cellular responses and tight junction expression. Female BALB/c were sensitized to ovalbumin infected influenza A before receiving a second sensitization challenge saline, (OVA) or house dust mite (HDM). Fifteen days post-infection, bronchoalveolar i...

The level of endotoxin in influenza virus vaccine lots was reduced 10- to 20-fold after barium sulfate adsorption-elution. The amount of viral antigen lost was negligible.

The aim of this study was to determine pathomorphological lesions in the organs of birds infected with H5N1 avian influenza virus, presence and distribution of the viral antigen in tissue samples and the degree of their correlation. Examination was conducted on the carcasses of seven mute swans (Cygnus olor) and one domestic rooster (Gallus gallus domesticus). After necropsy, trachea, lungs, li...

Activation of immune cells (but not B cells) with lectins is widely known. We used the structurally defined interaction between influenza hemagglutinin (HA) and its cell surface receptor sialic acid (SA) to identify a B cell receptor (BCR) activation modality that proceeded through non-cognate interactions with antigen. Using a new approach to reconstitute antigen-receptor interactions in a hum...

Approved: ____________________________________ Thesis Supervisor ____________________________________ Title and Department ____________________________________ Date 1 THE ROLE OF PULMONARY DENDRITIC CELLS IN REGULATING THE ANTIGEN-SPECIFIC CD8 T CELL RESPONSE FOLLOWING INFLUENZA VIRUS INFECTION