Impact of age and pre-existing influenza immune responses in humans receiving split inactivated influenza vaccine on the induction of the breadth of antibodies to influenza A strains

Most humans have pre-existing immunity to influenza viruses. In this study, volunteers (ages of 18–85 years) were vaccinated with split, inactivated Fluzone(™) influenza vaccine in four consecutive influenza seasons from 2013 to 2016 seasons. The impact of repeated vaccination on breadth and durability of antibodies was assessed as a result of vaccine strain changes. Total IgG anti-hemagglutinin (HA) binding antibodies and hemagglutination-inhibition (HAI) activity increased in all age groups against both influenza A HA components in the vaccine post-vaccination (day 21). However, younger subjects maintained seroprotective titers to the vaccine strains, which resulted in higher seroconversion rates in the elderly, since the HAI titers in elderly subjects were more likely to decline prior to the next season. Young subjects had significant HAI activity against historical, as well as contemporary H1 and H3 vaccine strains from the mid-1980s to present. In contrast, elderly subjects had HAI activity to H1 strains from all years, but were more likely to have HAI activity to older strains from 1918-1950s. They also had a more restricted HAI profile against H3 viruses compared to young subjects recognizing H3N2 influenza viruses from the mid-2000s to present. Vaccine recipients were then categorized by whether subjects seroconverted from a seronegative or seropositive pre-vaccination state. Regardless of age, immunological recall or ‘back-boosting’ to antigenically related strains were associated with seroconversion to the vaccine strain. Overall, both younger and older people have the ability to mount a breadth of immune responses following influenza vaccination. This report describes how imprinting exposure differs across age groups, influences antibody cross-reactivity to past hemagglutinin antigenic variants, and shapes immune responses elicited by current split inactivated influenza vaccines. Understanding how current influenza vaccines are influenced by pre-existing immunity in people of different ages is critical for designing the next-generation of ‘universal’ or broadly-protective influenza vaccines.