Back to Search Start Over

Responsiveness to Influenza Vaccination Correlates with NKG2C-Expression on NK Cells

Authors :
Peggy Riese
Stephanie Trittel
Rishi D. Pathirana
Frank Klawonn
Rebecca J. Cox
Carlos A. Guzmán
Source :
Vaccines, Vol 8, Iss 2, p 281 (2020)
Publication Year :
2020
Publisher :
MDPI AG, 2020.

Abstract

Influenza vaccination often results in a large percentage of low responders, especially in high-risk groups. As a first line of defense, natural killer (NK) cells play a crucial role in the fight against infections. However, their implication with regard to vaccine responsiveness is insufficiently assessed. Therefore, this study aimed at the validation of essential NK cell features potentially associated with differential vaccine responsiveness with a special focus on NKG2C- and/or CD57-expressing NK cells considered to harbor memory-like functions. To this end, 16 healthy volunteers were vaccinated with an adjuvanted pandemic influenza vaccine. Vaccine responders and low responders were classified according to their hemagglutination inhibition antibody titers. A majority of responders displayed enhanced frequencies of NKG2C-expressing NK cells 7- or 14-days post-vaccination as compared to low responders, whereas the expression of CD57 was not differentially modulated. The NK cell cytotoxic potential was found to be confined to CD56dimCD16+ NKG2C-expressing NK cells in the responders but not in the low responders, which was further confirmed by stochastic neighbor embedding analysis. The presented study is the first of its kind that ascribes CD56dimCD16+ NKG2C-expressing NK cells a crucial role in biasing adaptive immune responses upon influenza vaccination and suggests NKG2C as a potential biomarker in predicting pandemic influenza vaccine responsiveness.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
2076393X
Volume :
8
Issue :
2
Database :
Directory of Open Access Journals
Journal :
Vaccines
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
edsdoj.5c486ef40645348b81653d500ce274
Document Type :
article
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines8020281