Multimodal mucosal and systemic immune characterization of a non-human primate trachoma model highlights the critical role of local immunity during acute phase disease.

Our NHP model accurately reproduces the clinical signs of acute trachoma, allowing for an accurate assessment of the local immune responses in infected eyes. A progressive immune response occurred for weeks after exposure to Ct, which subsided into a persistent innate immune response. An understanding of these local responses is the first step towards using the model to assess new vaccine and therapeutic strategies for disease prevention.