Mr Blair Johnson¹, Mr Andrew Stevenson¹, Ms Helen McGuire², Mr Matthew Linden¹, Ms Fiona Wood^1,3, Mr Mark Fear¹

¹University Of Western Australia, Crawley, Australia, ²University of Sydny, Sydney, Australia, ³Department of Health, Perth, Australia

Abstract:

Epidemiological studies conducted within Australia have demonstrated that survivors of burn injuries are at a long-term risk of developing a range of morbidities. The personal and social burden is significant, with patients demonstrating a risk of increased lengths of hospitalisation. The mechanisms underlying this pattern of disease is not yet understood; however, many of the post-burn morbidities observed could be the result of immune dysfunction.

Children aged 0-3 are at the greatest risk of a burn injury that results in hospitalisation. Most injuries (84%) are non-severe with a total body surface area (TBSA) involvement of <10%. Plasma and PBMCs were collected >3 years after injury from 38 paediatric burn survivors aged <4yo at the time of injury, and from age/sex-matched controls.

Plasma was assessed using a Luminex assay targeting 13 cytokines. TNFa, IL-2, IL-7 and IFNg were all significantly elevated in the burn cohort.

PBMCs from 22 patients and matched controls were stained with a bespoke panel of 40 metal-conjugated antibodies and measured using a Helios mass cytometer. Unsupervised clustering analysis and hierarchical gating strategies were implemented to identify subpopulations that were altered in the burn survivors. Memory T-regulatory cells, Th17 cells, central memory CD8+ T cells, and central memory CD4+ T cells were all generally elevated (0.05 < p < 0.1) in the burn cohort.

This study has demonstrated a lasting change to the immune profile of burn survivors in both the cellular compartment and circulating cytokines. It suggests new avenues for research into post-burn immune suppression and regulation.

Biography:

Blair has just begun his PhD at the University of Western Australia investigating changes to the immune system and platelet function following burn injury.