Item Details

abstract

Currently, there are no influenza vaccines for infants under six months of age due to the inability of inactivated influenza vaccines to elicit an antibody response in this population. Influenza vaccines have historically focused on generating antibody to the influenza protein hemagglutinin (HA). Recently, influenza researchers have evaluated inhibition of another protein, neuraminidase (NA). Inactivated influenza vaccines are thought to be inefficient at eliciting an NA-specific antibody response. In this study, we sought to understand the newborn’s ability to mount an antibody response to NA. Using an infant African green monkey model, we measured the production of neutralizing antibody to NA after vaccination with an inactivated PR8 H1N1 influenza virus (+/- adjuvant), live H1N1 virus, or a combination of vaccination and challenge. We determined that while infants can mount an antibody response that is capable of inhibiting NA activity after viral infection, they do not reliably generate antibody capable of recognizing NA following vaccination. Importantly, we found that virus-specific responses generated to non-NA targets as a result of vaccination did not interfere with the ability to mount an NA-specific antibody response to a subsequent viral challenge. Building an understanding of the ability of the neonatal immune system to respond to individual influenza proteins is an essential step in developing effective vaccines for this at-risk population.

subject

Antibody

ELLA

Influenza

Neuraminidase

Newborn

non-human primate

contributor

Shultz, Patrick (author)

Lyles, Doug S. (committee chair)

Haas, Karen M (committee member)

date

2020-06-09T08:35:14Z (accessioned)

2021-06-08T08:30:12Z (available)

2020 (issued)

degree

Biomedical Science – MS (discipline)

embargo

2021-06-08 (terms)

identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/10339/96877 (uri)

language

en (iso)

publisher

Wake Forest University

title

Understanding the infant antibody response to neuraminidase following influenza vaccination and infection in a non-human primate model

type

Thesis