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Updated: Jul 11, 2025

A Human Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cell PBMC Engrafted Humanized Xenograft Model for Translational Immuno-oncology I-O Research
Published on: August 15, 2019
Leveraging human immune organoids for rational vaccine design
Jenna M Kastenschmidt1, Suhas Sureshchandra1, Lisa E Wagar1
1Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA, 92617, USA; Institute for Immunology, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA, 92617, USA; Center for Virus Research, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA, 92617, USA; Vaccine R&D Center, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA, 92617, USA.
Abstract:
Current influenza A and B virus (IABV) vaccines provide suboptimal protection and efforts are underway to develop a universal IABV vaccine. Blood neutralizing antibodies are the current gold standard for protection, but many processes that regulate human IABV-specific immunity occur in mucosal and lymphoid tissues. We need an improved mechanistic understanding of how immune cells respond within these tissues to advance our current (slow and expensive) vaccine testing model. We posit that advanced in vitro models of human adaptive immunity can bridge some of the gaps between vaccine design, animal models, and human clinical trials. Here, we highlight how they can be integrated into current practices and play a role in reverse translating the defined features of protective vaccines to rationally design new candidates.

