The avian influenza A H7N9 virus has caused severe infection and high mortality in humans. It can be extremely hazardous to the elderly since age might diminish the immune response, and poor immunogenicity of H7 hemagglutinin could diminish the vaccine efficacy in this population. To overcome this issue, adjuvants are used to induce a stronger immune response. In this study, we generated a recombinant H7N9 influenza virus using reverse genetic techniques, consisting of hemagglutinin and neuraminidase genes derived from a human H7N9 virus, with the remaining genes from H1N1 A/Puerto Rico/8/34 (PR8). To evaluate whether the adjuvant can improve immune responses in aged animals, the humoral and cellular immune responses of 18-month-old BALB/c mice to different doses of split avian influenza A H7N9 vaccine with and without the adjuvant MF59 were compared. Our data showed that aged mice immunized with MF59 elicited higher levels of hemagglutination inhibition and microneutralization antibodies and interferon-gamma-specific enzyme-linked immunospot assay (ELISPOT) responses when compared with antigens alone. It is suggested that the split avian influenza A H7N9 vaccine combined with MF59 may significantly improve immune responses to influenza vaccination in elderly humans.
Keywords: H7N9; MF59; old mice; split vaccine.