Post-Transplantation B Cell Function in Different Molecular Types of SCID

The overall emphasis of Dr. Buckley's research is in human T,B and NK cell development and in aberrations in their development and regulation. The work involves three particular areas of investigation: 1) the cellular and molecular bases of genetically-determined human immunodeficiency diseases, 2) the use of bone marrow stem cells to cure genetically-determined immunodeficiency diseases, and 3) the use of human SCID bone marrow stem cell chimeras to study human thymic education, T and B cell ontogeny, tolerance induction and MHC restriction mechanisms. Methodology includes monoclonal antibody (mAb) analyses of lymphocyte phenotypes, a variety of T cell and natural killer (NK) cell functional assays, studies of thymic output by T cell receptor recombination excision circle measurement, studies of T cell diversity by spectratyping, studies of T cell longevity by telomere analysis and assessment of B cell differentiation and function. A unique resource available for her studies is the largest population of patients with genetically-determined immunodeficiency diseases in the U.S., which includes the largest population in the world of longterm SCID chimeras treated at a single center, some of whom have been studied and followed for more than 37 years. The administration of rigorously T cell depleted haploidentical bone marrow stem cells to SCID recipients without pre-transplant conditioning or post-transplant use of immunosuppressive drugs to prevent GVHD provides an unmanipulated system for studying human thymic education, T and B cell ontogeny, MHC restriction mechanisms and tolerance induction. Studies to identify mutations in patients with primary immunodeficiency are continuing, particularly in those with SCID.

Ongoing Applied Activities 
•I direct a Global Quality Assurance Program, which I developed and pioneered here at Duke University, to oversee compliance with Good Clinical Laboratory Practice Guidelines in three HIV vaccine trial networks (CHAVI, CAVD, Duke HVTN, EQAPOL, Duke VTEU) involving domestic and international laboratory sites.
•I also direct a Global Proficiency Testing Program for laboratories testing for neutralizing antibody function in individuals infected with HIV or vaccinated against HIV. The Program was launched in 2009.
•I provide assistance and oversight for endpoint assay standardization, qualification and validation, as well as for the QSU of the GMP facility at DHVI, which will manufacture HIV vaccine products for first-in-man Phase I trials.

Past Basic Research
•Development of T cell responses in neonates.
•Neonatal T cell receptor Vβ repertoire diversity in the peripheral T cell pool.
•The role of heat shock protein, as a natural adjuvant, at eliciting innate and adaptive immune responses.
•Development of the T cell receptor repertoire in naïve, immunodeficient infants, given bone marrow or thymic transplantation.
•Thymic output, T cell diversity and T cell function in long-term human SCID chimeras.
•Telomere length in T cells from SCID chimeras.