Browsing by Author "Holla, Prasida"

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    Innate immune activation restricts priming and protective efficacy of the radiation-attenuated PfSPZ malaria vaccine
    (American Society for Clinical Investigation, 2024-04-30) Senkpeil, Leetah; Bhardwaj, Jyoti; Little, Morgan R.; Holla, Prasida; Upadhye, Aditi; Fusco, Elizabeth M.; Swanson, Phillip A., II; Wiegand, Ryan E.; Macklin, Michael D.; Bi, Kevin; Flynn, Barbara J.; Yamamoto, Ayako; Gaskin, Erik L.; Sather, D. Noah; Oblak, Adrian L.; Simpson, Edward; Gao, Hongyu; Haining, W. Nicholas; Yates, Kathleen B.; Liu, Xiaowen; Murshedkar, Tooba; Richie, Thomas L.; Sim, B. Kim Lee; Otieno, Kephas; Kariuki, Simon; Xuei, Xiaoling; Liu, Yunlong; Polidoro, Rafael B.; Hoffman, Stephen L.; Oneko, Martina; Steinhardt, Laura C.; Schmidt, Nathan W.; Seder, Robert A.; Tran, Tuan M.; Medicine, School of Medicine
    A systems analysis was conducted to determine the potential molecular mechanisms underlying differential immunogenicity and protective efficacy results of a clinical trial of the radiation-attenuated whole-sporozoite PfSPZ vaccine in African infants. Innate immune activation and myeloid signatures at prevaccination baseline correlated with protection from P. falciparum parasitemia in placebo controls. These same signatures were associated with susceptibility to parasitemia among infants who received the highest and most protective PfSPZ vaccine dose. Machine learning identified spliceosome, proteosome, and resting DC signatures as prevaccination features predictive of protection after highest-dose PfSPZ vaccination, whereas baseline circumsporozoite protein-specific (CSP-specific) IgG predicted nonprotection. Prevaccination innate inflammatory and myeloid signatures were associated with higher sporozoite-specific IgG Ab response but undetectable PfSPZ-specific CD8+ T cell responses after vaccination. Consistent with these human data, innate stimulation in vivo conferred protection against infection by sporozoite injection in malaria-naive mice while diminishing the CD8+ T cell response to radiation-attenuated sporozoites. These data suggest a dichotomous role of innate stimulation for malaria protection and induction of protective immunity by whole-sporozoite malaria vaccines. The uncoupling of vaccine-induced protective immunity achieved by Abs from more protective CD8+ T cell responses suggests that PfSPZ vaccine efficacy in malaria-endemic settings may be constrained by opposing antigen presentation pathways.
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    Isotype switching in human memory B cells sets intrinsic antigen-affinity thresholds that dictate antigen-driven fates
    (National Academy of Sciences, 2024) Ambegaonkar, Abhijit A.; Holla, Prasida; Sohn, Haewon; George, Rachel; Tran, Tuan M.; Pierce, Susan K.; Medicine, School of Medicine
    Memory B cells (MBCs) play a critical role in protection against homologous and variant pathogen challenge by either differentiating to plasma cells (PCs) or to germinal center (GC) B cells. The human MBC compartment contains both switched IgG+ and unswitched IgM+ MBCs; however, whether these MBC subpopulations are equivalent in their response to B cell receptor cross-linking and their resulting fates is incompletely understood. Here, we show that IgG+ and IgM+ MBCs can be distinguished based on their response to κ-specific monoclonal antibodies of differing affinities. IgG+ MBCs responded only to high-affinity anti-κ and differentiated almost exclusively toward PC fates. In contrast, IgM+ MBCs were eliminated by apoptosis by high-affinity anti-κ but responded to low-affinity anti-κ by differentiating toward GC B cell fates. These results suggest that IgG+ and IgM+ MBCs may play distinct yet complementary roles in response to pathogen challenge ensuring the immediate production of high-affinity antibodies to homologous and closely related challenges and the generation of variant-specific MBCs through GC reactions.
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    Mature beyond their years: young children who escape detection of parasitemia despite living in settings of intense malaria transmission
    (Portland Press, 2024) Holla, Prasida; Bhardwaj, Jyoti; Tran, Tuan M.; Pediatrics, School of Medicine
    Despite having the highest risk of progressing to severe disease due to lack of acquired immunity, the youngest children living in areas of highly intense malaria transmission have long been observed to be infected at lower rates than older children. Whether this observation is due to reduced exposure to infectious mosquito bites from behavioral and biological factors, maternally transferred immunity, genetic factors, or enhanced innate immunity in the young child has intrigued malaria researchers for over half a century. Recent evidence suggests that maternally transferred immunity may be limited to early infancy and that the young child's own immune system may contribute to control of malarial symptoms early in life and prior to the development of more effective adaptive immunity. Prospective studies of active and passive detection of Plasmodium falciparum blood-stage infections have identified young children (<5 years old) who remain uninfected through a defined surveillance period despite living in settings of highly intense malaria transmission. Yet, little is known about the potential immunological basis for this 'aparasitemic' phenotype. In this review, we summarize the observational evidence for this phenotype in field studies and examine potential reasons why these children escape detection of parasitemia, covering factors that are either extrinsic or intrinsic to their developing immune system. We discuss the challenges of distinguishing malaria protection from lack of malaria exposure in field studies. We also identify gaps in our knowledge regarding cellular immunity in the youngest age group and propose directions that researchers may take to address these gaps.