UK scientists have discovered how some children develop natural immunity to Strep A, a common bacterial infection — a vital breakthrough which could help develop vaccines to save up to half a million lives globally each year.
While Strep A often causes a mild sore throat or skin infections, it sometimes be life-threatening.
In low and middle-income countries hundreds of thousands of people die each year after contracting the infection. This increased risk is often linked to heart damage resulting from repeated infections.
Researchers from the University of Sheffield were able to identify the specific antibodies that are linked to protection from the potentially fatal infection.
“Our findings represent a significant step towards a safe and effective vaccine that could save around half a million lives here in the UK and around the world,” said Dr. Alex Keeley, from the University of Sheffield’s Florey Institute of Infection.
“Now, for the first time in humans, we’ve been able to observe how antibodies that would be made following vaccination may be preventing infections and show how these antibodies may be working against Strep A,” Keeley added.
The research, published in the journal Nature Medicine, looked at how antibodies — our natural defenses against infection — develop in people in The Gambia from birth and throughout their lives.
It found that while infants are born with some maternal protection against Strep A, that quickly fades away.
Young children rapidly develop antibody responses to various parts of the bacteria after exposure to Strep A. Identifying this key window for developing immunity is a critical discovery for future vaccine strategies.
“Now we know how crucial the first few years of life are in developing immunity to Strep A, we can gain a much deeper understanding of how this immunity is developed,” Keeley said.
“We hope this will lead to vaccine trials in different parts of the world to ultimately prove that vaccines can provide safe and effective protection against Strep A,” the researcher added.