Becky Adkins, Ph.D.

Professor of Microbiology and Immunology
Room 3152, Rosenstiel Medical Sciences Building
1600 NW 10th Avenue
Telephone: 305-243-5560
Fax: 305-243-4623
Email: radkins@med.miami.edu

Research Interests:

Newborn animals succumb to infections and diseases that have little to no effect in adults. This disease susceptibility in early life is at least partially due to the failure to mount protective immune responses. To understand the basis for poor responsiveness, we are studying T cell function in neonates. In particular, we compare the T helper (Th) activities that arise in situ in neonatal vs. adult mice. Th cells can be functionally divided into Th1 and Th2 subsets. The Th1 subset produces gamma-IFN and mediates delayed-type hypersensitivity and protection against intracellular pathogens. The Th2 subset produces IL-4 and IL-5 and is important in humoral responses. Immune responses heavily skewed toward Th1 or Th2 function can exacerbate infectious diseases, allergic reactions, diabetes, and autoimmunity. Thus, generating and maintaining the appropriate Th1/Th2 balance is critical for protective immunity. This is particularly important for the very early stages of life, when exposure to many novel antigens occurs. Our goal is to understand how Th1/Th2 responses develop and persist in early life.

Our studies have revealed several unique and interesting differences between the Th responses of newborns and adults. First, unlike in adult, newborn lymph node and spleen cells show different responses to immunization with protein antigen; lymph nodes develop a mature, mixed Th1/Th2 response whereas spleens show exclusive Th2 development. Second, even in the lymph nodes, neonatal, but not adult, Th2 function persists for a prolonged period following a single immunization. Lastly, animals initially immunized as neonates are ‘programmed’ to have Th2-dominant memory responses, under conditions in which adults show Th1 dominance. Thus, there is a significant Th2-skewed component to all phases of the immune response in neonates. We are currently striving to identify the cellular and molecular regulation of this phenomenon.

Selected Publications:

Rose S, Guevara P, Farach S, Adkins B. (2006) The key regulators of adult T helper cell responses, STAT6 and T-bet, are established in early life in mice. Eur J Immunol. 36(5):1241-53.

Adkins, B., Marshall-Clarke, S., and C. LeClerc. (2004) Neonatal adaptive immunity comes of age. Nat. Rev. Immunol. 4:553.

Adkins, B., Jones, M., Bu, Y., and Levy, R.B. (2004) Neonatal tolerance revisited again: specific CTL priming in murine neonates injected with small numbers of semi- or fully-allogeneic spleen cells. Eur. J. Immunol. 34:1901.

Adkins, B. (2003) Peripheral CD4+ lymphocytes derived from fetal vs adult thymic precursors differ phenotypically and functionally. J. Immunol. 171:5157.

Adkins, B., Williamson, T., Guevara, P., and Bu, Y. (2003) Murine neonatal lymphocytes show rapid early cell cycle entry and cell division. J. Immunol. 170:4548.

Adkins, B., Bu, Y., Vincek, V., and P. Guevara. (2003) The primary responses of murine neonatal lymph node CD4+ cells are Th2-skewed and are sufficient for the development of Th2-biased memory. Clin. Develop. Immunol. 10:43.

Adkins, B, Bu, Y. and P. Guevara. (2002) Murine neonatal CD4+ lymph node cells are highly deficient in the development of antigen specific Th1 function in adoptive adult hosts. J. Immunol. 169:4998.

Adkins, B., Bu, Y., and Guevara, P. (2001) The generation of Th memory in neonates vs adults: Prolonged primary Th2 effector function and impaired development of Th1 memory effectors in neonates. J. Immunol. 166:918-925.

Adkins, B. (2000) Development of neonatal Th1/Th2 function. Int. Rev. Immunol. 19:157-171.

Adkins, B., Bu, Y., Cepero, E., and Perez, R. (2000) Exclusive Th2 primary effector function in spleens but mixed Th1/Th2 function in lymph nodes of murine neonates. J. Immunol. 164:2347-2353.

Adkins, B. (1999) Apoptosis of naive murine neonatal T cells. Int. Rev. Immunol. 18:465-484.

Adkins, B. (1999) T cell function in newborn mice and humans. Immunology Today, 20:330-335.

Adkins, B. and Du, R.-D. (1998) Newborn mice develop balanced Th1/Th2 primary effector responses in vivo but are biased to Th2 secondary responses. J.Immunol. 160:4217-4224.