Sex Differences in Older Adults' Immune Responses to Seasonal Influenza Vaccination

Overview

Journal Front Immunol

Specialty Allergy & Immunology

Date 2019 Mar 16

PMID 30873150

Citations 43

Authors

Emily A Voigt

Inna G Ovsyannikova

Richard B Kennedy

Diane E Grill

Krista M Goergen

Daniel J Schaid

Gregory A Poland

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Sex differences in immune responses to influenza vaccine may impact efficacy across populations. In a cohort of 138 older adults (50-74 years old), we measured influenza A/H1N1 antibody titers, B-cell ELISPOT response, PBMC transcriptomics, and PBMC cell compositions at 0, 3, and 28 days post-immunization with the 2010/11 seasonal inactivated influenza vaccine. We identified higher B-cell ELISPOT responses in females than males. Potential mechanisms for sex effects were identified in four gene clusters related to T, NK, and B cells. Mediation analysis indicated that sex-dependent expression in T and NK cell genes can be partially attributed to higher CD4+ T cell and lower NK cell fractions in females. We identified strong sex effects in 135 B cell genes whose expression correlates with ELISPOT measures, and found that cell subset differences did not explain the effect of sex on these genes' expression. Post-vaccination expression of these genes, however, mediated 41% of the sex effect on ELISPOT responses. These results improve our understanding of sexual dimorphism in immunity and influenza vaccine response.

Citing Articles

Quach H, Haralambieva I, Goergen K, Grill D, Chen J, Ovsyannikova I Sci Rep. 2024; 14(1):24420.

PMID: 39424894 PMC: 11489691. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-75250-2.

Sex Differences in the Immunogenicity and Efficacy of Seasonal Influenza Vaccines: A Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.

Tadount F, Kiely M, Assi A, Rafferty E, Sadarangani M, MacDonald S Open Forum Infect Dis. 2024; 11(5):ofae222.

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The Role of Biological Sex in Pre-Clinical (Mouse) mRNA Vaccine Studies.

Binici B, Rattray Z, Schroeder A, Perrie Y Vaccines (Basel). 2024; 12(3).

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Impact of sex on humoral immunity with live influenza B virus vaccines in mice.

Cardenas-Garcia S, Caceres C, Jain A, Geiger G, Mo J, Gay L NPJ Vaccines. 2024; 9(1):45.

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Excessive daytime sleepiness is associated with impaired antibody response to influenza vaccination in older male adults.

Quach H, Warner N, Ovsyannikova I, Covassin N, Poland G, Somers V Front Cell Infect Microbiol. 2023; 13:1229035.

PMID: 38149010 PMC: 10749933. DOI: 10.3389/fcimb.2023.1229035.

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