tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
NPJ Vaccines
. 2021 Dec 9;6(1):147.
doi: 10.1038/s41541-021-00412-6.
Sex-specific effects of aging on humoral immune responses to repeated influenza vaccination in older adults
Janna R Shapiro[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Huifen Li[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Rosemary Morgan[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Yiyin Chen[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Helen Kuo[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Xiaoxuan Ning[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Patrick Shea[SUP] 5 [/SUP], Cunjin Wu[SUP] 6 [/SUP], Katherine Merport[SUP] 7 [/SUP], Rayna Saldanha[SUP] 7 [/SUP], Suifeng Liu[SUP] 8 [/SUP], Engle Abrams[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Yan Chen[SUP] 9 [/SUP], Denise C Kelly[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Eileen Sheridan-Malone[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Lan Wang[SUP] 10 [/SUP], Scott L Zeger[SUP] 11 [/SUP], Sabra L Klein[SUP] 12 13 [/SUP], Sean X Leng[SUP] 14 15 [/SUP]
Affiliations
Abstract
Older adults (≥65 years of age) bear a significant burden of severe disease and mortality associated with influenza, despite relatively high annual vaccination coverage and substantial pre-existing immunity to influenza. To test the hypothesis that host factors, including age and sex, play a role in determining the effect of repeated vaccination and levels of pre-existing humoral immunity to influenza, we evaluated pre- and post-vaccination strain-specific hemagglutination inhibition (HAI) titers in adults over 75 years of age who received a high-dose influenza vaccine in at least four out of six influenza seasons. Pre-vaccination titers, rather than host factors and repeated vaccination were significantly associated with post-vaccination HAI titer outcomes, and displayed an age-by-sex interaction. Pre-vaccination titers to H1N1 remained constant with age. Titers to H3N2 and influenza B viruses decreased substantially with age in males, whereas titers in females remained constant with age. Our findings highlight the importance of pre-existing immunity in this highly vaccinated older adult population and suggest that older males are particularly vulnerable to reduced pre-existing humoral immunity to influenza.
. 2021 Dec 9;6(1):147.
doi: 10.1038/s41541-021-00412-6.
Sex-specific effects of aging on humoral immune responses to repeated influenza vaccination in older adults
Janna R Shapiro[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Huifen Li[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Rosemary Morgan[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Yiyin Chen[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Helen Kuo[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Xiaoxuan Ning[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Patrick Shea[SUP] 5 [/SUP], Cunjin Wu[SUP] 6 [/SUP], Katherine Merport[SUP] 7 [/SUP], Rayna Saldanha[SUP] 7 [/SUP], Suifeng Liu[SUP] 8 [/SUP], Engle Abrams[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Yan Chen[SUP] 9 [/SUP], Denise C Kelly[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Eileen Sheridan-Malone[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Lan Wang[SUP] 10 [/SUP], Scott L Zeger[SUP] 11 [/SUP], Sabra L Klein[SUP] 12 13 [/SUP], Sean X Leng[SUP] 14 15 [/SUP]
Affiliations
- PMID: 34887436
- DOI: 10.1038/s41541-021-00412-6
Abstract
Older adults (≥65 years of age) bear a significant burden of severe disease and mortality associated with influenza, despite relatively high annual vaccination coverage and substantial pre-existing immunity to influenza. To test the hypothesis that host factors, including age and sex, play a role in determining the effect of repeated vaccination and levels of pre-existing humoral immunity to influenza, we evaluated pre- and post-vaccination strain-specific hemagglutination inhibition (HAI) titers in adults over 75 years of age who received a high-dose influenza vaccine in at least four out of six influenza seasons. Pre-vaccination titers, rather than host factors and repeated vaccination were significantly associated with post-vaccination HAI titer outcomes, and displayed an age-by-sex interaction. Pre-vaccination titers to H1N1 remained constant with age. Titers to H3N2 and influenza B viruses decreased substantially with age in males, whereas titers in females remained constant with age. Our findings highlight the importance of pre-existing immunity in this highly vaccinated older adult population and suggest that older males are particularly vulnerable to reduced pre-existing humoral immunity to influenza.