Timing of Assessment of Humoral and Cell-Mediated Immunity after Influenza Vaccination

• Published in: Vaccines (Basel) Vol. 12; no. 6; p. 584
• Main Authors: Otani, Naruhito, Nakajima, Kazuhiko, Yamada, Kumiko, Ishikawa, Kaori, Ichiki, Kaoru, Ueda, Takashi, Takesue, Yoshio, Yamamoto, Takuma, Higasa, Satoshi, Tanimura, Susumu, Inai, Yuta, Okuno, Toshiomi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 27.05.2024; MDPI
• Subjects: Analysis; Antibodies; Antigens; Assessments; Cell-mediated immunity; cellular immunity; Coronaviruses; COVID-19 vaccines; Dosage and administration; Enzymes; Epidemics; Hemagglutination inhibition; Humoral immunity; Immune response; Immune response (cell-mediated); Immune response (humoral); Immune system; Immunity; Immunology; Infections; Influenza; influenza vaccination; Influenza vaccines; interferon-gamma (IFN-γ); Mortality; neutralizing antibody; Older people; Performance evaluation; Seasons; Vaccines; Viruses; γ-Interferon; Japan; United States > US; Singapore; neutralizing antibody; hemagglutination inhibition; humoral immunity; interferon-gamma (IFN-γ); influenza vaccination; cellular immunity
• ISSN: 2076-393X; 2076-393X
• DOI: 10.3390/vaccines12060584

Assessment of the immune response to influenza vaccines should include an assessment of both humoral and cell-mediated immunity. However, there is a lack of consensus regarding the timing of immunological assessment of humoral and cell-mediated immunity after vaccination. Therefore, we investigated the timing of immunological assessments after vaccination using markers of humoral and cell-mediated immunity. In the 2018/2019 influenza season, blood was collected from 29 healthy adults before and after vaccination with a quadrivalent inactivated influenza vaccine, and we performed serial measurements of humoral immunity (hemagglutination inhibition [HAI] and neutralizing antibody [NT]) and cell-mediated immunity (interferon-gamma [IFN-γ]). The HAI and NT titers before and after vaccination were strongly correlated, but no correlation was observed between the markers of cell-mediated and humoral immunity. The geometric mean titer and geometric mean concentration of humoral and cellular immune markers increased within 2 weeks after vaccination and had already declined by 8 weeks. This study suggests that the optimal time to assess the immune response is 2 weeks after vaccination. Appropriately timed immunological assessments can help ensure that vaccination is effective.