INHABIT

You are invited to take part in a study to investigate the immune memory response across tissues in humans. The study is being led by the Translational Pharmacology Group (NDORMS, University of Oxford) and will take place at the NIHR Oxford Experimental Medicine Clinical Research Facility, Churchill Hospital, Oxford, OX3 7LE.

If you are aged between 18 and 45 years, in good health, and able to attend face-to-face visits at the Churchill Hospital, Oxford, you may be eligible to take part. We will reimburse you from £710 up to £890 for your time, travel, and inconvenience, depending on the number of visits you do. The study will last between 2 to 3 months, depending on the group you are placed in.

Background

The immune system is your body’s defence against germs and other foreign substances. When it encounters something new, it not only fights it off but also creates a “memory” of it, allowing immune cells to respond faster and more strongly the next time. Vaccines work by safely triggering this memory, so your body is prepared to fight the real infection in the future. Some immune cells stay in the tissues where they found the threat. These “resident memory cells” act as local guards, ready to respond quickly.

Researchers still do not fully understand how these cells form, spread, or function. By studying how the immune system responds to vaccines in different parts of the body, researchers hope to better understand the biology of these resident memory cells and to develop improved treatments for diseases that involve their dysfunction in the immune system.

Purpose of the study

The aim of this study is to investigate how the human immune system responds to repeated exposures to a substance it has never seen before (a ”neo-antigen”), following vaccination and injection into the skin. In doing so, researchers hope to explore how immune cell memory forms in the blood and in the skin, and in some cases, also the lymph nodes (small organs in your armpits). We believe that this knowledge may contribute to the development of new treatments for conditions where the immune system, and in particular resident memory immune cells, are involved.

Study details

If you are eligible and decide to take part, you will receive a vaccination against a safe neo-antigen, and then up to four injections on up to three more occasions each, depending on your group allocation. You will be required to attend up to seven face-to-face appointments. You will have blood tests and skin assessments at some of these visits, and undergo a total of up to four punch skin biopsy procedures to assess the immune response. In some groups, you will also undergo up to four procedures to sample the lymph nodes, to explore active immune responses and memory cell formation.

All visits will take place at the NIHR Oxford Experimental Medicine Clinical Research Facility, Churchill Hospital, Oxford, OX3 7LE.

Further information

Register your interest

If you have read the Participant Information Sheet and are interested in joining the study, please complete the online screening questions below.