1. Sex Differences in Older Adults' Immune Responses to Seasonal Influenza Vaccination.
- Author
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Voigt EA, Ovsyannikova IG, Kennedy RB, Grill DE, Goergen KM, Schaid DJ, and Poland GA
- Subjects
- Age Factors, Aged, Antibodies, Viral immunology, B-Lymphocytes immunology, B-Lymphocytes metabolism, Biomarkers, Enzyme-Linked Immunospot Assay, Female, Geriatric Assessment, Humans, Immunity, Cellular, Immunity, Humoral, Influenza, Human genetics, Leukocytes, Mononuclear immunology, Male, Middle Aged, Sex Factors, T-Lymphocytes immunology, T-Lymphocytes metabolism, Vaccination, Immunity, Influenza A virus immunology, Influenza Vaccines immunology, Influenza, Human immunology, Influenza, Human prevention & control
- Abstract
Background: Sex differences in immune responses to influenza vaccine may impact efficacy across populations. Methods: 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. Results: 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. Conclusions: These results improve our understanding of sexual dimorphism in immunity and influenza vaccine response.
- Published
- 2019
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