npj Vaccines (Feb 2021)

Immunogenicity of standard, high-dose, MF59-adjuvanted, and recombinant-HA seasonal influenza vaccination in older adults

  • Athena P. Y. Li,
  • Carolyn A. Cohen,
  • Nancy H. L. Leung,
  • Vicky J. Fang,
  • Shivaprakash Gangappa,
  • Suryaprakash Sambhara,
  • Min Z. Levine,
  • A. Danielle Iuliano,
  • Ranawaka A. P. M. Perera,
  • Dennis K. M. Ip,
  • J. S. Malik Peiris,
  • Mark G. Thompson,
  • Benjamin J. Cowling,
  • Sophie A. Valkenburg

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41541-021-00289-5
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 6, no. 1
pp. 1 – 12

Abstract

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Abstract The vaccine efficacy of standard-dose seasonal inactivated influenza vaccines (S-IIV) can be improved by the use of vaccines with higher antigen content or adjuvants. We conducted a randomized controlled trial in older adults to compare cellular and antibody responses of S-IIV versus enhanced vaccines (eIIV): MF59-adjuvanted (A-eIIV), high-dose (H-eIIV), and recombinant-hemagglutinin (HA) (R-eIIV). All vaccines induced comparable H3-HA-specific IgG and elevated antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) activity at day 30 post vaccination. H3-HA-specific ADCC responses were greatest following H-eIIV. Only A-eIIV increased H3-HA-IgG avidity, HA-stalk IgG and ADCC activity. eIIVs also increased polyfunctional CD4+ and CD8+ T cell responses, while cellular immune responses were skewed toward single-cytokine-producing T cells among S-IIV subjects. Our study provides further immunological evidence for the preferential use of eIIVs in older adults as each vaccine platform had an advantage over the standard-dose vaccine in terms of NK cell activation, HA-stalk antibodies, and T cell responses.