Recent work in our lab has used a chimeric human rotavirus to provide a new strategy for studying human-rotavirus-specific immunity. Rotavirus vaccines perform poorly in low-middle income countries, and we propose this small animal platform will be useful for testing the efficacy of new vaccines and antibody-based therapeutics.

Woodyear, S.; Chandler, T.L.; Kawagishi, T.; Lonergan, T.M.; Patel, V.A.; Williams, C.A.; Permar, S.R.; Ding, S.; Caddy, S.L. Chimeric Viruses Enable Study of Antibody Responses to Human Rotaviruses in Mice. Viruses2024,16,1145. https:// doi.org/10.3390/v16071145.

Our work has shown that antibodies can stimulate CD8 T cell activation via the intracellular antibody receptor TRIM21 to enhance MHC class I presentation.

Viral nucleoprotein antibodies activate TRIM21 and induce T cell immunity. Caddy S, Vaysburd M, Papa G, Wing M, O‘Connell K, Stoycheva D, Foss S, Terje Andersen J, Oxenius A and James LC. EMBO J 2021 Mar 1;40(5):e106228.

An explainer of this discovery has been published by The Conversation.

Rotavirus is a major cause of gastroenteritis in young children and animals. Antibodies are made in response to infection, and we have shown that some of these antibodies can work inside cells to block rotavirus replication.

Intracellular neutralisation of rotavirus by VP6-specific IgG. Caddy S, Vaysburd M, Wing M, Foss S, Terje Andersen J, O‘Connell K, Mayes K, Higginson K, Iturriza-Gómara M, Desselberger U  and James LC. PLoS Pathog. 2020 Aug 4;16(8):e1008732.