Microbiology Commons^™

Innate Immune Responses To Respiratory Syncytial Virus: Age-Associated Changes, Terianne Maiko Wong

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection causes ~64 million cases of respiratory disease and 200,000 deaths annually worldwide, yet there is no broadly effective prophylactic or treatment regimen. RSV can produce acute respiratory illness in patients of all ages but strikes the age extremes, infants and the elderly, with highest frequency presumably due to innate immune deficiencies. A higher morbidity and mortality has been reported for the elderly above 65 years of age, which has been attributed to immune senescence. Efforts to generate an effective vaccine have thus far been unsuccessful.

The innate immune system provides the first line of defense …

Therapeutic Peptide-Based Vaccination Strategies Against Hpv-Induced Cancers, Kelly Barrios Marrugo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

There is an urgent need for the development of an effective therapeutic vaccine against cancer caused by human papilloma virus (HPV). We focused on HPV-induced malignancies because of their high worldwide prevalence (e.g., cervical carcinoma and head & neck cancer). A successful therapeutic vaccine could prevent the 250 000 deaths/year worldwide and the 2.25 billion dollars that

are expended in related care in the US.

We used an HPV-induced mouse cancer model to test vaccines

composed of a CD8 T cell peptide epitope administered with potent adjuvants designed to generate vast numbers of high avidity cytotoxic T lymphocytes specific for …