Funding outcome

Babies are highly susceptible to infectious diseases compared with adults. The World Health Organization estimates that infectious diseases kill more than 7 million children below the age of 5 every year. What causes the poor response by the baby's immune system to infectious disease and vaccines remain a mystery. Recently, we have discovered that babies have very high number of immature red blood cells compared with adults. These cells are weakening the immune system of babies and making them more susceptible to infections. These cells are present in human babies for a certain period of time, probably a year, before they gradually disappear. It has been shown that babies are more susceptible to HIV disease progression. In the absence of treatment HIV kills 50% of infected infants by age 2. We also know that close to half of the babies born from HIV-infected mothers will contract the HIV-1 during pregnancy, through the birth or breastfeeding. In 2012 alone, over 260,000 newly HIV infected cases were reported in children, almost 30 children getting infected with HIV per hour. We don't know why some babies contract the HIV but others don't. Recently, we tested the impact of immature red blood cells on HIV infection. Interestingly, we saw these cells increase HIV infection when added to CD4 cells (HIV target cells). Therefore, we believe abundance of these immature red blood cells in the newborn's blood may increase HIV replication and make HIV infected babies sicker. Since these cells are abundant in human placenta, the goals of our studies are to better understand the role of these immature red blood cells in newborns and HIV transmission from mothers to the fetus.