WEDNESDAY, April 26, 2006 (HealthDay News) -- Stimulating a specific receptor on the surface of certain immune white blood cells may help boost a newborn's immune system and response to vaccines, a new study suggests.
Newborns have immature immune systems, which makes them highly vulnerable to severe infections and unable to mount an effective immune response to vaccines until they're about 2 months old. This makes it difficult to protect newborns from many kinds of infections, including respiratory syncytial virus, pneumococcus, rotavirus, whooping cough and HIV.
But researchers at Children's Hospital Boston found that the cell receptor, called Toll-like receptor 8 (TLR8), triggered a strong immune response in a group of "antigen-presenting" white blood cells that play a crucial role in vaccine response.
When TLR8 was stimulated by agents that mimicked virus antigens, these white blood cells produced normal, adult levels of two important cytokines -- proteins that trigger other immune cells to fight off infection -- and another immune-system stimulant called CD40.
"These finding suggest that agents that stimulate TLR8 could be used to enhance immune responses in newborns, perhaps as adjuvants given along with vaccines," researcher Dr. Ofer Levy of Children's Hospital Boston said in a prepared statement. "We plan to test this approach in animals, and eventually in human babies."
The study appeared April 25 in the online edition of the journal Blood.
More information
The American Medical Association has more about medical care for newborns.
