Tweet
J Infect Dis
. 2023 Feb 6;jiad029.
doi: 10.1093/infdis/jiad029. Online ahead of print.
Dynamics of anti-influenza mucosal IgA over a season in a cohort of individuals living or working in a long-term care facility
Matt D T Hitchings 1 , Brooke A Borgert 2 3 , Adam Shir 2 , Bingyi Yang 2 3 , Kyra H Grantz 2 3 4 , Jacob Ball 3 5 , Carlos A Moreno 2 3 4 , Kenneth Rand 6 , Parker A Small 3 , Keith R Fowke 7 , Derek A T Cummings 2 3
Affiliations
- PMID: 36740584
- DOI: 10.1093/infdis/jiad029
Abstract
Background: Serological surveys are used to ascertain influenza infection and immunity, but evidence for the utility of mucosal immunoglobulin A (IgA) as a correlate of infection or protection is limited.
Methods: We performed influenza-like illness (ILI) surveillance on 220 individuals living or working in a retirement community in Gainesville, Florida, USA from January to May, 2018, and took pre- and post-season nasal samples of 11 individuals with PCR-confirmed influenza infection and 60 randomly selected controls. Mucosal IgA against 10 strains of influenza was measured from nasal samples.
Results: Overall, 28.2% and 11.3% of individuals experienced a 2-fold and 4-fold rise, respectively, in mucosal IgA to at least one influenza strain. Individuals with PCR-confirmed influenza A had significantly lower levels of pre-season IgA to influenza A. Influenza-associated respiratory illness was associated with a higher rise in mucosal IgA to influenza strains of the same subtype, and H3N2-associated respiratory illness was associated with a higher rise in mucosal IgA to other influenza A strains.
Conclusions: By comparing individuals with and without influenza illness, we demonstrated that mucosal IgA is a correlate of influenza infection. There was evidence for cross-reactivity in mucosal IgA across influenza A subtypes.
Keywords: Influenza; mucosal immunity; surveillance.