Female Antibodies Go the Distance against Influenza Viruses

Females have long been described to generate superior humoral immune responses relative to those in males. In the article by Ursin et al. (R. L. Ursin, S. Dhakal, H. Liu, S. Jayaraman, et al., mBio 13:e01839-22, 2022, https://doi.org/10.1128/mbio.01839-22), the authors showed that female mice generated a more robust, broadly reactive, and protective humoral immune response against influenza viruses in comparison to their male counterparts. Female mice demonstrated more efficient germinal center responses, including increased class switching and affinity maturation. Therefore, sex plays an important role in acquisition of protection against influenza viruses by modulating the generation of protective B cell responses. In this commentary, we dive into how this study builds on our understanding of how females generate superior antibody responses against influenza viruses and how this informs vaccine design.