Persistence of immune response to an adjuvanted varicella-zoster virus subunit vaccine for up to year nine in older adults

• Published in: Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics Vol. 14; no. 6; pp. 1370 - 1377
• Main Authors: Schwarz, Tino F., Volpe, Stephanie, Catteau, Gregory, Chlibek, Roman, David, Marie Pierre, Richardus, Jan Hendrik, Lal, Himal, Oostvogels, Lidia, Pauksens, Karlis, Ravault, Stephanie, Rombo, Lars, Sonder, Gerard, Smetana, Jan, Heineman, Thomas, Bastidas, Adriana
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Taylor & Francis 03.06.2018; Taylor & Francis Group
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Antibodies, Viral - blood; Cohort Studies; Cytokines - analysis; Follow-Up Studies; herpes zoster; herpes zoster (shingles) vaccine; Herpes Zoster Vaccine - administration & dosage; Herpes Zoster Vaccine - immunology; Herpesvirus 3, Human - immunology; Humans; immunity; Lipid A - administration & dosage; Lipid A - analogs & derivatives; Middle Aged; persistence; prediction modeling; prevention; Research Paper; Saponins - administration & dosage; subunit gE vaccine; T-Lymphocytes - immunology; Time Factors; Vaccines, Subunit - administration & dosage; Vaccines, Subunit - immunology; varicella-zoster virus; varicella-zoster virus; herpes zoster; herpes zoster (shingles) vaccine; persistence; prediction modeling; immunity; subunit gE vaccine; prevention
• ISSN: 2164-5515; 2164-554X; 2164-554X
• DOI: 10.1080/21645515.2018.1442162

Background: In adults aged ≥60 years, two doses of the herpes zoster subunit vaccine (HZ/su; 50 µg varicella-zoster virus glycoprotein E [gE] and AS01 B Adjuvant System) elicited humoral and cell-mediated immune responses persisting for at least six years. We assessed immunogenicity nine years post-initial vaccination. Methods: This open extension study (NCT02735915) followed 70 participants who received two HZ/su doses in the initial trial (NCT00434577). Blood samples to assess the cellular (intracellular cytokine staining) and humoral (ELISA) immunity were taken at year nine post-initial vaccination. Results: Participants' mean age at dose 1 was 72.3 years. The fold increases over pre-vaccination in the mean frequency of gE-specific CD4+ T-cells expressing ≥2 activation markers plateaued from year four post-dose 1 until year nine. Anti-gE antibody geometric mean concentrations plateaued and remained above pre-vaccination levels from year four onwards. Immunogenicity at year nine was similar across age strata (60-69, ≥70 years) and confirmed statistical prediction model results using data for up to year six. Further modeling using all data up to year nine predicted immune responses would remain above the pre-vaccination level up to year 15. Conclusion: In adults aged ≥60 years, HZ/su-induced immunogenicity remained above pre-vaccination levels for at least nine years post-initial vaccination. Summary: After vaccination with HZ/su, both cell mediated and humoral immunity remained above pre-vaccination levels up to year 9 regardless of age group. Immune responses are predicted to remain above baseline up to 15 years post initial vaccination.