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Cytokine production after influenza vaccination in a healthy elderly population
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Cytokine production after influenza vaccination in a healthy elderly population

Erica D Bernstein, Elizabeth M Gardner, Elias Abrutyn, Peter Gross and Donna M Murasko
Vaccine, v 16(18), pp 1722-1731
1998
PMID: 9778748

Abstract

T-lymphocytes cytokines human vaccination
Influenza vaccination is less efficacious in the elderly than in the young. To characterize this age-related decrease in immune response to influenza vaccination, antibody and cell-mediated responses to influenza vaccine were assessed before immunization and 4 weeks after vaccination of a population of 270 healthy elderly individuals (mean age: 80.2 years) living in eight local continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs) and 30 young individuals (mean age: 27.8 years). The antibody titres produced against all three influenza strains increased significantly after vaccination in both the young and elderly ( p<0.0005); however, the young demonstrated significantly higher titres to all three strains than did the elderly ( p<0.03). Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) cultured with influenza vaccine demonstrated significantly increased proliferation (elderly: p<0.00005; young: p<0.001) after vaccination, with proliferative responses in the young significantly higher than the elderly both before ( p<0.04) and after ( p<0.0005) vaccination. Similarly, IFNγ production in these PBMC cultures increased significantly pre- to postvaccination in both young and elderly (young: p<0.006; elderly: p<0.00005), but the young produced more than the elderly both pre- and postvaccination ( p<0.0001). Following vaccination, PBMC production of IL-10 was higher in the young than in the elderly ( p<0.0015), while IL-6 production was comparable in both young and elderly individuals. Greater than 13% of the elderly population did not produce detectable IL-6, IL-10, or IFNγ either before or after vaccination. The data show that the decreased cell-mediated and humoral responses to influenza vaccination of this healthy elderly population are accompanied by the production of lower levels of cytokines. A unique finding in this population of 270 healthy elderly was the association between a T HO cytokine profile and intact immune responses to influenza vaccine. A similar relationship was not seen in the young.

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Web of Science research areas
Immunology
Medicine, Research & Experimental
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