Vaccination with 2014-15 Seasonal Inactivated Influenza Vaccine Elicits Cross-Reactive Anti-HA Antibodies with Strong ADCC Against Antigenically Drifted Circulating H3N2 Virus in Humans.

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Vaccination with 2014-15 Seasonal Inactivated Influenza Vaccine Elicits Cross-Reactive Anti-HA Antibodies with Strong ADCC Against Antigenically Drifted Circulating H3N2 Virus in Humans.

Viral Immunol. 2016 May;29(4):259-62

Authors: Zhong W, Gross FL, Holiday C, Jefferson SN, Bai Y, Liu F, Katz JM, Levine MZ

Abstract
It is well established that virus neutralizing (VN) antibodies to hemagglutinin (HA) antigens of influenza A viruses provide optimal protection against antigenically matched strains of influenza A viruses. In contrast, little is known about the potential role of HA-specific, non-neutralizing antibodies in protection against human influenza illness at present. In this study, we show that individuals vaccinated with the 2014-15 seasonal inactivated influenza vaccine displayed strong A/H3N2 HA-specific antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC) activities against an antigenically drifted H3N2 virus, despite poor induction of cross-reactive neutralizing antibodies against the antigenic variant. Given that passive transfer of influenza HA-monospecific immune sera with negligible levels of HA-specific VN antibodies can often confer considerable cross protection against lethal challenge with heterologous influenza viruses in animal models, it is conceivable that HA-specific, non-neutralizing antibodies may provide certain degree of cross protection against antigenically drifted influenza A viruses through ADCC in case of influenza vaccine mismatches. This may have important implications for public health.

PMID: 26950058 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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