Armistead Lab

Investigating T Cells in Human Milk as a Tool to Prevent Infectious Diseases in Early Life

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 antibodies. However, human milk also contains a high frequency of T cells, which have unknown specificity and function.

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 maternally directed strategies that aim to maximize the immunologic benefits conferred to nursing infants and subsequently reduce the burden of infection in infancy.

The Armistead Lab at Seattle Children’s 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:

• Elucidate a novel respiratory-mammary axis of T cell immunity.
• Define the pathogen-specific T cell repertoire in human breastmilk.
• Investigate mechanisms of milk-derived T cell immunity in offspring using preclinical models.