Understanding vaccine response can affect antibody responses

A recent finding reveals how varied biological mechanism of people leads to varied vaccine responses. READ MORE TO KNOW.

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New findings from a meta-analysis published in 'Nature Immunology' examine the biological mechanisms role in determining varied responses to vaccinations among people, which could have global implications for the development and administration of vaccines.

As part of a series of studies for The Human Immunology Project Consortium (HIPC), a network of national research institutions studying the range of responses to different infections and vaccinations, Emory researchers analyzed the molecular characteristics of 820 healthy young adults who were immunized with 13 different vaccines to identify specific biomarkers that generate antibody response to vaccines.

The participants were separated into three endotypes, or groups with a common gene expression, based on the level of inflammatory response prior to vaccination- a high inflammatory group, a low inflammatory group, and a mid-inflammatory group. 

After studying the immunological changes that occurred in participants following vaccination, researchers found that the group that had the highest levels of inflammation prior to vaccine had the strongest antibody response.

Slim Fourati, PhD, bioinformatic research associate at Emory University and first author on the paper said, ."We were surprised because inflammation is usually depicted as something that is bad, tese data indicate that some types of inflammation can actually foster a stronger response from a vaccine."

Dr. Rafick-Pierre Sekaly, professor and senior author of the paper, and the HIPC team identified specific biomarkers among this group and cellular features that characterized the pre-vaccination inflammatory signature, information that can be used to predict how well an individual will respond to a vaccine.

"With the knowledge we now know what characteristics of the immune system enable a more robust response, vaccines that can be tailored to induce this response and maximize their effectiveness, but we still have more questions to answer. More research is needed to determine the cause of this inflammation in otherwise healthy adults" says Fourati.

Additionally, Fourati suggests future studies should look at how these biomarkers facilitate vaccine protection in older age groups and among populations who are immunocompromised.

Published simultaneously with three other HIPC studies by researchers at Yale`s School of Medicine, Stanford University, University of Cincinnati, Harvard Medical School, and Columbia University Medical Center, these findings can serve to improve vaccine response across all individuals.

Better understanding of how various pre-vaccine immune states impact antibody responses opens the possibility of altering these states in more vulnerable individuals. For example, scientists may give patients predicted to have a weaker immune response an adjuvant with the vaccine to trigger the inflammatory genes associated with greater protection.This work will help enable improved, more efficient clinical trials for the development of new vaccines.