Recombinant HA-based vaccine outperforms split and subunit vaccines in elicitation of influenza-specific CD4 T cells and CD4 T cell-dependent antibody responses in humans

K A Richards; S Moritzky; I Shannon; T Fitzgerald; H Yang; A Branche; D J Topham; J J Treanor; J Nayak; Andrea J Sant

doi:10.1038/s41541-020-00227-x

Recombinant HA-based vaccine outperforms split and subunit vaccines in elicitation of influenza-specific CD4 T cells and CD4 T cell-dependent antibody responses in humans

NPJ Vaccines. 2020 Aug 26:5:77. doi: 10.1038/s41541-020-00227-x. eCollection 2020.

Authors

K A Richards¹, S Moritzky¹, I Shannon², T Fitzgerald¹, H Yang³, A Branche⁴, D J Topham¹, J J Treanor⁴, J Nayak², Andrea J Sant¹

Affiliations

¹ David H. Smith Center for Vaccine Biology and Immunology, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Rochester Medical Center, 601 Elmwood Ave, Box 609, Rochester, NY 14642 USA.
² Department of Pediatrics, Division of Infectious Diseases, University of Rochester Medical Center, 601 Elmwood Ave, Box 690, Rochester, NY 14642 USA.
³ Department of Biostatistics and Computational Biology, University of Rochester Medical Center, 265 Crittenden Blvd., Box 630, Rochester, NY 14642 USA.
⁴ Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, University of Rochester Medical Center, 601 Elmwood Ave., Box 689, Rochester, NY 14642 USA.

Abstract

Although traditional egg-based inactivated influenza vaccines can protect against infection, there have been significant efforts to develop improved formats to overcome disadvantages of this platform. Here, we have assessed human CD4 T cell responses to a traditional egg-based influenza vaccine with recently available cell-derived vaccines and recombinant baculovirus-derived vaccines. Adults were administered either egg-derived Fluzone^®, mammalian cell-derived Flucelvax^® or recombinant HA (Flublok^®). CD4 T cell responses to each HA protein were assessed by cytokine EliSpot and intracellular staining assays. The specificity and magnitude of antibody responses were quantified by ELISA and HAI assays. By all criteria, Flublok vaccine exhibited superior performance in eliciting both CD4 T cell responses and HA-specific antibody responses, whether measured by mean response magnitude or percent of responders. Although the mechanism(s) underlying this advantage is not yet clear, it is likely that both qualitative and quantitative features of the vaccines impact the response.

Keywords: Immunology; Vaccines.

Abstract

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