What is it about?
The immune status of the body after influenza vaccination appears to correlate with how well the vaccine works. Molecules called cytokines help modulate immune system responses, stimulating more action toward dangerous pathogens and less action toward normally harmless things like pollen. We identified cytokines in blood samples taken in the days after vaccination that were more likely to be associated with cases of infection during the following influenza season.
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Why is it important?
The role of cytokines keeping the whole immune system in balance has not been well characterized with respect to vaccine effectiveness. Identifying cytokine responses that differed in people who were not well protected creates opportunities to improve vaccine design or the timing of vaccination. This study demonstrates how a retrospective study can be informative when prospective study design is impractical.
Perspectives
Being supported by people that were willing to think outside the box was critical for this project. In this observational study only two of the 15 different cytokines we measured were informative. Failure shouldn't stop scientists from looking.
Ewan Plant
US Food & Drug Administration
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Post-vaccination serum cytokines levels correlate with breakthrough influenza infections, Scientific Reports, January 2023, Springer Science + Business Media,
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-28295-8.
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