Recipient organisationNIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre
NIHR supportRecorded as supported by this research centre
PeriodMar 2025 — Nov 2027
In plain English
AI plain-English summary
Most vaccines are injected into muscle, but respiratory viruses attack the nose and lungs first — and this study will track how the immune system learns to defend those surfaces directly. Current vaccines generate strong immunity in the blood, but they largely miss the mucosal defences in the nose and airways where viruses actually enter. Natural infection creates longer-lived local immunity, yet scientists do not fully understand how long that protection lasts, how well it blocks reinfection, or how it differs between viruses like SARS-CoV-2, influenza, RSV, and rhinovirus. This study will recruit up to 200 adults with confirmed respiratory infections, collect samples from nose, blood, and lungs via bronchoscopy, and follow some participants for up to a year — including after any new infection. If successful, the findings could reshape how vaccines are designed. Instead of relying solely on intramuscular shots, future vaccines might be formulated to trigger durable mucosal immunity in the nose and lungs. That could mean fewer breakthrough infections, longer protection, and less reliance on booster doses. For now, this is fundamental science: mapping the immune system’s local memory in ways that have been technically difficult to study in living humans.
View original technical description
This study will investigate how the immune system responds to respiratory viral infections in the respiratory tract itself (nose and lung), how it is maintained locally and how it correlates with our responses in other parts of the body (blood and local tissues). Immune responses to natural infection differ from those induced by vaccination. The type of immunity induced by intramuscular vaccines is normally robust but targets a limited range of immune responses. This immune response is usually studied in the blood. A natural respiratory infection however may create a more extensive immunological response. The natural infection is also able to create immune responses in the mucosal membranes of the nose and lung. These local defence mechanisms are considered long-lived and could lead to quicker resolution of new infections. Immunity combined by infection and vaccination is called hybrid immunity. We will recruit up to 200 adults (aged 18-85 years) with a recent and confirmed respiratory viral infection. Available information on their vaccination and infection history is desirable but not exclusive. All participants will undergo samples from the nose and blood, and a research bronchoscopy between 2-8 weeks following their confirmed infection result to obtain samples from the lungs. Some of the study participants will be offered a follow-up visit at 4 months post infection (blood and nasal cell donation) and an additional visit at 9-12 months after the initial infection. In the meanwhile, if individuals contract a new respiratory viral infection with the same or other respiratory virus, they will be invited to donate blood, nasal cells and lung samples after resolution of the new infection. This study aims to provide a better understanding of how the immune system at the nose and airways respond to various viruses, such as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2( SARS-CoV-2), respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), influenza, rhinovirus and human metapneumovirus (HMPV), how long natural/hybrid immunity can last and how likely it is to confer protection against repeat respiratory viral infections.
Plain English summaries and category classifications on this site are generated by AI and may not perfectly reflect the original research.
Is something wrong? Let us know