Oladunni Olanubi New research led by Oladunni Olanubi (pictured) in Dr. Rebecca Auer’s group is shedding light on how surgery stresses and temporarily weakens the immune system – a phenomenon that increases the risk of infections in the postoperative period and may contribute to cancer coming back after surgery.

The study, published in the International Journal of Surgery, involved 30 patients undergoing abdominal cancer surgery at The Ottawa Hospital, following vaccination against COVID-19. The team collected their immune cells (T and B cells) before and after surgery and tested their effectiveness against COVID-19 antigens. They found that the immune response to COVID-19 was significantly weakened in the first three days following surgery, but returned to normal within a month. Dr. Auer’s team and others have previously found that surgery temporarily weakens other parts of the immune system, but this is the first study to show the antigen-specific effect on T and B cells.

“This research will help us find ways to strengthen the immune system around the time of surgery, which could help protect postoperative patients from infection and prevent cancer from coming back following surgery,” said Dr. Auer, senior scientist and Executive Vice-President of Research and Innovation at The Ottawa Hospital, CEO and Scientific Director of the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute and professor at the University of Ottawa.

Authors: Olanubi O, Dion T, Macdonald R, Alam R, De Souza CT, Hu R, Crawley A, Auer RC.

Cores: Flow Cytometry 

Funding: University of Ottawa Faculty of Medicine / OHRI Translational Research Grant, Terry Fox Research Institute Program Project Grant

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