King's College London

Neonatal naive CD4+ T cells have distinct functionality to adult naive CD4+ T cells, most strikingly by their inherent capacity to express CXCL8. This thesis sets out to investigate the control of neonatal T cell functionality by: developing a novel CXCL8-secretion cell assay to facilitate their better characterisation in vitro; exploring the neonatal naive CD4+ T cell epigenetic landscapes; and determining the immunology, including T cell functionality, of neonates born to SARS-CoV-2 exposed mothers. This thesis provides new evidence that neonatal naive CD4+ T cells and their functionality are influenced by both epigenetics, and environmental stimuli.