The Effects of Birth Year, Age and Sex on Hemagglutination Inhibition Antibody Responses to Influenza Vaccination

Ewan P Plant; Angelia A Eick-Cost; Hussein Ezzeldin; Jose L Sanchez; Zhiping Ye; Michael J Cooper

doi:10.3390/vaccines6030039

The Effects of Birth Year, Age and Sex on Hemagglutination Inhibition Antibody Responses to Influenza Vaccination

Vaccines (Basel). 2018 Jul 3;6(3):39. doi: 10.3390/vaccines6030039.

Authors

Ewan P Plant¹, Angelia A Eick-Cost², Hussein Ezzeldin³, Jose L Sanchez⁴, Zhiping Ye⁵, Michael J Cooper⁶

Affiliations

¹ Division of Viral Products, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, US Food and Drug Administration, Silver Spring, MD 20903, USA. ewan.plant@fda.hhs.gov.
² Armed Forces Health Surveillance Branch, Public Health Division, J3/CSA, Defense Health Agency, and Cherokee Nation Technology Solutions, Silver Spring, MD 20904, USA. angelia.a.cost.ctr@mail.mil.
³ Office of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, US Food and Drug Administration, Silver Spring, MD 20903, USA. hussein.ezzeldin@fda.hhs.gov.
⁴ Armed Forces Health Surveillance Branch, Public Health Division, J3/CSA, Defense Health Agency, and Cherokee Nation Technology Solutions, Silver Spring, MD 20904, USA. jose.l.sanchez76.civ@mail.mil.
⁵ Division of Viral Products, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, US Food and Drug Administration, Silver Spring, MD 20903, USA. zhiping.ye@fda.hhs.gov.
⁶ Armed Forces Health Surveillance Branch, Public Health Division, J3/CSA, Defense Health Agency, and Cherokee Nation Technology Solutions, Silver Spring, MD 20904, USA. michael.cooper3@nih.gov.

Abstract

The first exposure to influenza is thought to impact subsequent immune responses later in life. The consequences of this can be seen during influenza epidemics and pandemics with differences in morbidity and mortality for different birth cohorts. There is a need for better understanding of how vaccine responses are affected by early exposures to influenza viruses. In this analysis of hemagglutination inhibition (HI) antibody responses in two cohorts of military personnel we noticed differences related to age, sex, prior vaccination, deployment and birth year. These data suggest that HI antibody production, in response to influenza vaccination, is affected by these factors. The magnitude of this antibody response is associated with, among other factors, the influenza strain that circulated following birth.

Keywords: IgG; hemagglutinin; humoral antibody; influenza; original antigenic sin; serum.