Fellowship completed

November 22, 2021

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IMPRINT fellow Shadia Khandaker from the University of Liverpool completed her project 'Towards the understanding of anti-Group B Streptococcus (GBS) protective immunity: characterisation of maternal sera in high- vs. low- GBS prevalence countries using humanised mice.'

Pregnant women sometimes carry a bacterium called Group B Streptococcus in their vagina or rectum. During pregnancy or upon delivery, GBS may be transmitted to the baby resulting in the death of the baby in the womb or go on to cause infections such as sepsis or meningitis soon after birth. GBS disease is more serious in some low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) where pregnant women do not have access to proper antenatal care and antibiotics. A solution would be to vaccinate mothers against GBS so they can produce antibodies that can transfer to the baby through the placenta and protect them from developing an infection in the first place. Interestingly, LMICs situated in South-East Asia report a low GBS disease burden while high GBS disease rates are documented on the African continent, in countries such as Malawi or South Africa.

In their project, Shadia Khandaker from the University of Liverpool and her team investigated the immunological basis of this epidemiological discrepancy by analysing anti-GBS antibody response in women of childbearing age in three country settings: the UK, Malawi and Bangladesh. They found that anti-GBS antibody concentrations were significantly higher in Bangladeshi women compared to that of the UK and Malawi. Additionally, the ability of the antibody to kill the bacteria and its ability to bind to factors present on the surface of the GBS bacteria were higher in Bangladeshi women. Khandaker and her colleagues also examined how effectively the antibodies are transferred to the newborn and give protection to babies by using a novel mouse model where Bangladeshi serum demonstrated highest protection in newborn pups against GBS infection.

This study is the first to demonstrate an intriguing difference in GBS antibody response in women in different geographical regions which has an enormous importance to understand the possible immune response against GBS vaccine in diverse population. It also confirms the role of maternal antibody in protecting newborn from GBS infection and reinforce the importance of maternal vaccination to protect the newborn.

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