Correlation between human leukocyte antigen class II alleles and HAI titers detected post-influenza vaccination.

Alastair J Moss
Fiona P Gaughran
Aliyye Karasu
Anthony S Gilbert
Alex J Mann
Colin M Gelder
John S Oxford
Henry A Stephens
Rob Lambkin-Williams

Open link

DOI

10.1371/journal.pone.0071376

Publisher

Public Library of Science (PLoS)

Journal

issn:1932-6203

Abstract

Influenza is a major cause of morbidity and mortality. Despite vaccination, many elderly recipients do not develop a protective antibody response. To determine whether Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) alleles modulate seroprotection to influenza, a cohort of HLA class II-typed high-risk vaccine recipients was investigated. Haemagglutinin inhibition (HAI) titres were measured 14-40 days post-subunit vaccination. Seroprotection was defined as HAI titres reaching 40 or greater for all three vaccine strains. HLA-DRB1*04∶01 and HLA-DPB1*04∶01 alleles were detected at higher frequencies in seroprotected compared with non-seroprotected individuals. Thus, the presence of certain HLA class II alleles may determine the magnitude of antibody responses to...