The Impact of Age on Adaptive Immunity in Adults Infected With Respiratory Syncytial Virus (INFLAMMAGE)

This study will for the first time systematically investigate the immune responses in an elderly cohort challenged with a well-defined RSV inoculum. With a global aging population and continuing difficulties in generating vaccines that can reliably induce protective immunity in the elderly, these data will indicate the targets at which development of vaccines against RSV and other infections should be directed.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: RSV Infection
• Intervention / Treatment: Biological: RSV A Memphis 37

Detailed Description

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is one of the most common causes of chest infection worldwide, with 64 million episodes and 160,000 deaths each year. Despite this, it remains an underappreciated health problem and there are currently no specific treatments or vaccines against it. Although RSV infection is most frequent in young children, the majority of deaths occur in older adults, particularly in those with underlying heart and lung disease. This is believed to be due in part to the ageing immune system's reduced ability to protect against infection and symptomatic disease. However, little is known about the way human immune responses to RSV infection in older individuals differ from those of younger people. Further understanding of the mechanisms underlying immunity and potential impairments in these higher-risk people are therefore necessary. This project aims to study the role of T cells (which destroy virus-infected cells and are likely to be essential for recovery from infection) in healthy older volunteers after they have been given an RSV-induced common cold. Samples will be taken from the blood and respiratory tract in order to identify the differences in T cell responses that occur in older adults compared with their younger counterparts. Participants will be carefully screened to ensure they do not have any underlying health problems that might make them more at risk of severe disease and will be monitored closely throughout the course of infection. The investigators anticipate that T cell function even in healthy older individuals will be impaired compared to young adults, thus contributing in those with additional health problems to more severe disease. By analysing the networks of genes that are switched on and off, the investigators aim to identify the particular defects underlying these functional defects in order to ultimately define targets for novel treatments and T cell-stimulating vaccines.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 28
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United Kingdom
  • London, United Kingdom, W12 0NN
    • Imperial College London

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 14 years to 71 years (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Healthy persons aged 60 to 75 years, able to give informed consent
• Non smokers or ex-smokers with smokers with less than or equal to 5 pack years smoking history.
• Spirometry within the normal range for age and height (+/- 15%)
• FEV1/FVC >70% pre-bronchodilator

Exclusion Criteria:

• Chronic respiratory disease (asthma, COPD, rhinitis, sinusitis) in adulthood
• Inhaled bronchodilator or steroid use within the last 12 months
• Habitual use of any medication or other product (prescription or over-the-counter) for symptoms of rhinitis or nasal congestion within the last 3 months
• Acute upper respiratory infection (URI or sinusitis) in the past 6 weeks
• Subjects with allergic symptoms present at baseline
• Clinically relevant abnormality on chest X-ray
• Those in close domestic contact (i.e. sharing a household with, caring for, or daily face to face contact) with children under 3 years, other elderly adults (>65 years), immunosuppressed persons, or those with chronic respiratory disease
• Subjects with known or suspected immune deficiency
• Receipt of systemic glucocorticoids (in a dose ≥ 5 mg prednisone daily or equivalent) within one month, or any other cytotoxic or immunosuppressive drug within 6 months prior to challenge
• Known IgA deficiency, immotile cilia syndrome, or Kartagener's syndrome
• History of frequent nose bleeds
• Any significant medical condition or prescribed drug deemed by the study doctor to make the participant unsuitable for the study
• Women of childbearing potential must have a negative hCG urine pregnancy test *
• Positive urine drug screen
• Women of childbearing potential will have a pregnancy test performed prior to virus inoculation to exclude pregnancy and be required to use contraception throughout the study.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Basic Science
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Intervention / Treatment

Other: Healthy, non-smoking or ex-smoking persons aged 60 to 75 years; RSV A Memphis 37 will be given as intra-nasal drops.

Biological: RSV A Memphis 37; Subjects will be inoculated using intra-nasal drops with diluted inoculum at a given dose divided equally between the two nostrils. Dose: Good Manufacturing Practices-certified RSV Memphis 37 10(4) PFU in 1ml, 25% sucrose/Dulbecco's Modification of Eagle's Medium. Inoculations using intranasal drops will be done using a 1mL pipette with subjects supine. This will be done slowly with sufficient interval between each inoculation (2-3 minutes) to ensure maximum contact time between with the nasal and pharyngeal mucosa. Subjects will be asked not to swallow during the procedure to ensure maximal pharyngeal contact. Following inoculation, advice regarding hand hygiene will be given, subjects will be provided with alcohol hand gel and facemasks to reduce spread of virus in the environment.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Number of Participants With Challenge-related Adverse Events	To determine the safety and tolerability of experimental challenge with RSV Memphis 37, assessed by the number of participants with challenge-related adverse events. This includes any AEs deemed at least possibly related to the study challenge intervention (RSV Memphis 37). Assessed from the time of inoculation to study completion (Day 180).	180 days

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Symptom Severity in RSV Infection	This is the total symptom score for the whole 14 day period and is therefore the sum of all the scores from Day 0 to Day 14. Self-reported upper and lower respiratory and systemic symptoms by diary card. A self-completed diary card of upper respiratory tract clinical symptoms was completed on Day 0 and daily for 14 days after inoculation. A total 'upper respiratory clinical symptom score' will be derived using a four-point scale (0-3 for absent, mild, moderate and severe) for each of the following four respiratory symptoms: sneezing, nasal discharge, nasal obstruction, and sore throat, giving a maximum clinical severity score of 12 per day.	Day 0 to Day 14 (14 days)
Nasal Viral Load Measurement in RSV Infection	Change from baseline in viral load by qPCR of 28 days post inoculation.	Day 0 to Day 28 (28 days)

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Antibody Responses to RSV Infection	Mean titre of RSV specific antibodies from the Day 0, Day 7, Day 10, Day 14 and Day 28 sampling timepoints post inoculation in the infected vs uninfected group.	Day 0 to Day 28 (28 days)
T Cell Responses to RSV Infection	Frequency of RSV specific T cells measured at 0,7,10,14 and 28 days post inoculation	Day 0 to Day 28 (at 0,7,10,14 and 28 days post inoculation)

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Imperial College London
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Christopher Chiu, Imperial College London

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Ascough S, Dayananda P, Kalyan M, Kuong SU, Gardener Z, Bergstrom E, Paterson S, Kar S, Avadhan V, Thwaites R, Sanchez Sevilla Uruchurtu A, Ruckwardt TJ, Chen M, Nair D, Derrien-Colemyn A, Graham BS, Begg M, Hessel E, Openshaw P, Chiu C. Divergent age-related humoral correlates of protection against respiratory syncytial virus infection in older and young adults: a pilot, controlled, human infection challenge model. Lancet Healthy Longev. 2022 Jun;3(6):e405-e416. doi: 10.1016/S2666-7568(22)00103-9. Epub 2022 Jun 9.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): November 12, 2018
• Primary Completion (Actual): May 4, 2023
• Study Completion (Actual): May 4, 2023

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: October 16, 2018
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 31, 2018
• First Posted (Actual): November 2, 2018

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): January 26, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 22, 2026
• Last Verified: January 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Elderly; Human; RNA Virus Infections; Respiratory Syncytial Infections
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Infections; Virus Diseases; Pneumovirus Infections; Paramyxoviridae Infections; Mononegavirales Infections; Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infections; RNA Virus Infections
• Other Study ID Numbers: 14SM2070

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: UNDECIDED
• IPD Plan Description: Data may be shared, all data will be anonymised.

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No