Blair Armistead, PhD, MPH

Blair Armistead, PhD, MPH

  • Biography

    Research Description

    Worldwide, respiratory and enteric infections are leading causes of death and illness in children under one year of age. Exposure to breastmilk in the first year of life is protective against both the incidence and severity of these infections, an effect most often attributed to the passive transfer of bioactive compounds in human milk such as immunoglobulins, human milk oligosaccharides, and antimicrobial peptides. However, human milk also contains a high frequency of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells, which have unknown specificity and function. During my postdoctoral studies, we found that T cells in human milk are phenotypically and clonally distinct from those in maternal circulation and respond robustly to maternal vaccination, emphasizing their functional potential. Although the function of breastmilk T cells in human infants is unknown, multiple studies in animals have shown that they can traffic to peripheral organs of nursing offspring and provide protection from infection and modulate vaccine responses. These cells may play a critical role in protection during early infancy, when the offspring immune system is biased toward regulatory, tolerogenic responses over responses that are important for protection against viral and bacterial pathogens. 

    Mechanistic studies on the establishment, specificity, response, and protective function of breastmilk T cells are needed to more completely understand how breastmilk bolsters protective immunity against respiratory and enteric pathogens during the critical window of vulnerability in infancy. Further, such studies are essential to the rational design of maternal vaccination strategies that aim to maximize the immunologic benefits conferred to nursing infants and subsequently reduce the burden of infection in infancy.

    To this end, our research investigates cellular immunity in the lactating breast as a novel therapeutic target for the prevention and treatment of respiratory and enteric infections in infants. We seek to accomplish this through three overarching projects that aim to: 1) elucidate a novel respiratory-mammary axis of T cell immunity; 2) define the pathogen-specific T cell repertoire in human breastmilk; and 3) investigate mechanisms of milk-derived T cell immunity in offspring using murine models.

    Research Focus Area

    Host-Pathogen Interaction, Infectious Disease, Lactation Biology, Maternal and Child Health, Mucosal Immunology

  • Awards and Honors

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  • Publications

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  • Presentations

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  • Research Funding

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  • Clinical Trials and Research Studies

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    No clinical trials found for Blair Armistead, PhD, MPH.

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