Immune Responses to Influenza Vaccination

National Institute Of Allergy And Infectious Diseases

Investigators

Linked publications, trials & patents

Abstract

In order to evaluate human immune responses in depth, I helped initiate and coordinate one of the initial studies from the NIH Center for Human Immunology, which focused on immune responses to vaccination for influenza. This study was designed to help build a data base of normal human variation (the human immunome) and to understand how variation in immune states contributes to immune responses and disease (Tsang, Schwartzberg et al, Cell 2014; DIckler, H. et al, Ann New York Acad Sci, 2013). As a follow-up to these studies, Dr. John Tsang's laboratory performed CITESeq technology to uncover specific cellular contributions to baseline states (or set points) that contribute to responsiveness to vaccines (Kotliarov et al Nat Med 2020). Strkingly, these same signatures can predict severity of certain types of Lupus. To further understand responses to immunization, the CHI conducted a follow-up study comparing responses to both an unadjuvanted and an adjuvanted vaccine against Influenza H5N1. To complement this work, we have added new assays, including SOMOLOGICs for indepth analyses of serum analytes and CITE-Seq. These approaches have been used to look at responses to immunization in greater depth and to optimize technical and scientific approaches to better understand what generates productive responses to vaccines and signatures associated with adjuvants. Notably, responses to adjuvants parallel findings on baseline status that contribute to vaccine efficacy, providing common themes on immune responsiveness to vaccination that may help inform evaluation of new vaccines including those for SARS-CoV2 (Apps et al, submitted).