Alternating 3 different influenza vaccines for swine in Europe for a broader antibody response and protection

Heterologous prime-boost vaccination with experimental or commercial influenza vaccines has been successful in various animal species. In this study, we have examined the efficacy of alternating 3 different European commercial swine influenza A virus (swIAV) vaccines: the trivalent Respiporc(®) FLU3 (TIV), the bivalent GRIPORK(®) (BIV) and the monovalent Respiporc(®) FLUpan H1N1 (MOV). Five groups of 6 pigs each received 3 vaccinations at 4–6 week intervals in a homologous or heterologous prime-boost regimen. A sixth group served as a mock-vaccinated challenge control. Four weeks after the last vaccination, pigs were challenged intranasally with a European avian-like H1N1 (1C.2.1) swIAV, which was antigenically distinct from the vaccine strains. One heterologous prime-boost group (TIV–BIV–MOV) had higher hemagglutination inhibition (HI) and neuraminidase inhibition antibody responses against a panel of antigenically distinct H1N1, H1N2 and H3N2 IAVs than the other heterologous prime-boost group (BIV–TIV–MOV) and the homologous prime-boost groups (3xTIV; 3xBIV; 3xMOV). Group TIV–BIV–MOV had seroprotective HI titers (≥ 40) against 56% of the tested viruses compared to 33% in group BIV–TIV–MOV and 22–39% in the homologous prime-boost groups. Post-challenge, group TIV–BIV–MOV was the single group with significantly reduced virus titers in all respiratory samples compared to the challenge control group. Our results suggest that the use of different commercial swIAV vaccines for successive vaccinations may result in broader antibody responses and protection than the traditional, homologous prime-boost vaccination regimens. In addition, the order in which the different vaccines are administered seems to affect the breadth of the antibody response and protection. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13567-022-01060-x.