It is shown that age and sex are important variables to induce vaccine responses.
The study is committed to the development of vaccines that protect against influenza viruses, respiratory syncytial virus and SARS-CoV-2, which most affect people’s health
Members of the National Influenza Center of the World Health Organization in Valladolid.
A line of research that must be followed to improve existing flu vaccines, making them more multifaceted and for the benefit of vulnerable people. This statement is supported by data from the doctoral thesis defended this July by Dr. Laura Sánchez de Prada at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Valladolid and which has obtained international mention by compendium of publications.
The study that has supported this doctoral work has been carried out over the last four years, in collaboration with the research group of the WHO National Influenza Center in Valladolid and the Department of Microbiology of the Institute of Medicine “Icahn del Monte Sinai» in New York, United States, in the Laboratory of Dr. Adolfo García-Sastre.
In addition, this study has been carried out with the collaboration of the General Directorate of Public Health of the Junta de Castilla y León, which thanks to its work in the surveillance of influenza in this community through the sentinel surveillance network has contributed since several years ago serological samples of vaccinated patients that have served to carry out these scientific works.
The main objective has been to identify the elements that influence the humoral response (the way the immune system defends itself against infections) after seasonal vaccination against influenza, with special emphasis on determining which of them have the greatest impact. in the induction of protective responses.
The results obtained in this line of research have materialized in five original publications indexed in various international journals in quartile 1 and with impact factors between 5 and 19 points.
These are the most relevant contributions due to their importance and novelty in this field of study:
– In the first place, it has been shown that non-adjuvanted vaccines (those that did not contain substances or procedures that incorporated into the antigen or injected simultaneously with it could make the immune response more effective) caused a greater response against the influenza virus subtype A(H1N1)pdm09, while adjuvanted vaccines elicited a greater response to the influenza A(H3N2) virus subtype in people older than 65 years (1).
– Secondly, it was found that both age and biological sex are important variables in inducing vaccine responses. Antibody responses observed in women older than 65 years are more intense to influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 virus than men of the same age (2).
Hospital Clínico Universitario de Valladolid, headquarters of the National Influenza Center.
– Trivalent vaccination (vaccines that protect against three influenza strains), which protects against two influenza A subtypes and one influenza B lineage, has been shown to produce an antibody response against influenza B virus that it is in the vaccine, but also against the one that was not included, the first being the strongest. When vaccinated with vaccines that contain only the B/Victoria lineage, people under 65 years of age present a better response than those over 65 years of age (3).
– Some parts (antigenic epitopes) of the influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 subtype haemagglutinin protein have been found to generate more potent antibody responses than others that are less immunodominant. In addition, it was observed that age and the use of adjuvants in these vaccines increase the repertoire of responses against the less dominant parts of these proteins (4).
– Finally, using laboratory-modified influenza viruses, it was demonstrated that the seasonal vaccine can generate antibodies against the hemagglutinin stem area, which is an area of the hemagglutinin stem that is much more conserved, and therefore less variable, but which also generates less potent antibody responses than the hemagglutinin head. In addition, it was observed that there were differences in the response to this stem depending on age, being more intense in people under 50 years of age (5).
These findings may have a clear impact on public health decision-making and on research with future vaccines, since the data provided shows a line of research that should be followed to improve existing vaccines, making them more multifaceted and Orienting vaccination to the most vulnerable people.
The research has been carried out in collaboration with the Laboratory led by the Burgos professor Adolfo García-Sastre, which is part of the Icahn at Mount Sinai, in New York. Dr. Teresa Aydillo Gómez, who works at this center, has collaborated in the direction of the thesis together with Dr. José María Eiros Bouza, Professor of Microbiology at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Valladolid and Director of the National Influenza Center , and Dr. Iván Sanz Muñoz, who is its scientific manager.
Over the last four decades, the group from Valladolid has developed a consolidated track record in the field of infections caused by viruses. Until the appearance of SARS-CoV-2, the flu has played an important role in them. The published articles have the collaboration of experts in Preventive Medicine and Public Health, such as Dr. Castrodeza Sanz, and in Microbiology, with Dr. Rojo Rello and Domínguez-Gil, and Dr. Ortiz de Lejarazu.
The findings of this research highlight the importance of developing new vaccines or treatments that focus the response on regions of the proteins that are more conserved and that generate a greater antibody response, such as the stem and some antigenic epitopes described in hemagglutinin.
Furthermore, these results highlight the importance of developing ‘universal’ vaccines that provide longer lasting protection and against various influenza virus subtypes. In this scenario, one of the most important challenges lies in the creation of vaccines that protect against influenza viruses, respiratory syncytial virus and SARS-CoV-2, which currently have the greatest impact on human health.
2023-08-06 08:10:42
#age #sex #influence #efficacy #flu #vaccines #Nova #Ciencia
