Responsiveness to Influenza Vaccination Correlates with NKG2C-Expression on NK Cells
Influenza vaccination often results in a large percentage of low responders, especially in high-risk groups. As a first line of defense, natural killer (NK) cells play a crucial role in the fight against infections. However, their implication with regard to vaccine responsiveness is insufficiently a...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2020-06-01
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| Series: | Vaccines |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-393X/8/2/281 |
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| author | Peggy Riese Stephanie Trittel Rishi D. Pathirana Frank Klawonn Rebecca J. Cox Carlos A. Guzmán |
| author_facet | Peggy Riese Stephanie Trittel Rishi D. Pathirana Frank Klawonn Rebecca J. Cox Carlos A. Guzmán |
| author_sort | Peggy Riese |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Influenza vaccination often results in a large percentage of low responders, especially in high-risk groups. As a first line of defense, natural killer (NK) cells play a crucial role in the fight against infections. However, their implication with regard to vaccine responsiveness is insufficiently assessed. Therefore, this study aimed at the validation of essential NK cell features potentially associated with differential vaccine responsiveness with a special focus on NKG2C- and/or CD57-expressing NK cells considered to harbor memory-like functions. To this end, 16 healthy volunteers were vaccinated with an adjuvanted pandemic influenza vaccine. Vaccine responders and low responders were classified according to their hemagglutination inhibition antibody titers. A majority of responders displayed enhanced frequencies of NKG2C-expressing NK cells 7- or 14-days post-vaccination as compared to low responders, whereas the expression of CD57 was not differentially modulated. The NK cell cytotoxic potential was found to be confined to CD56<sup>dim</sup>CD16<sup>+</sup> NKG2C-expressing NK cells in the responders but not in the low responders, which was further confirmed by stochastic neighbor embedding analysis. The presented study is the first of its kind that ascribes CD56<sup>dim</sup>CD16<sup>+</sup> NKG2C-expressing NK cells a crucial role in biasing adaptive immune responses upon influenza vaccination and suggests NKG2C as a potential biomarker in predicting pandemic influenza vaccine responsiveness. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T19:21:19Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-de5c486ef40645348b81653d500ce274 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-393X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T19:21:19Z |
| publishDate | 2020-06-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Vaccines |
| spelling | doaj.art-de5c486ef40645348b81653d500ce2742023-11-20T03:01:19ZengMDPI AGVaccines2076-393X2020-06-018228110.3390/vaccines8020281Responsiveness to Influenza Vaccination Correlates with NKG2C-Expression on NK CellsPeggy Riese0Stephanie Trittel1Rishi D. Pathirana2Frank Klawonn3Rebecca J. Cox4Carlos A. Guzmán5Department of Vaccinology and Applied Microbiology, Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, 38124 Braunschweig, GermanyDepartment of Vaccinology and Applied Microbiology, Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, 38124 Braunschweig, GermanyDepartment of Clinical Science, The Influenza Centre, University of Bergen, 5007 Bergen, NorwayDepartment of Biostatistics, Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, 38124 Braunschweig, GermanyDepartment of Clinical Science, The Influenza Centre, University of Bergen, 5007 Bergen, NorwayDepartment of Vaccinology and Applied Microbiology, Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, 38124 Braunschweig, GermanyInfluenza vaccination often results in a large percentage of low responders, especially in high-risk groups. As a first line of defense, natural killer (NK) cells play a crucial role in the fight against infections. However, their implication with regard to vaccine responsiveness is insufficiently assessed. Therefore, this study aimed at the validation of essential NK cell features potentially associated with differential vaccine responsiveness with a special focus on NKG2C- and/or CD57-expressing NK cells considered to harbor memory-like functions. To this end, 16 healthy volunteers were vaccinated with an adjuvanted pandemic influenza vaccine. Vaccine responders and low responders were classified according to their hemagglutination inhibition antibody titers. A majority of responders displayed enhanced frequencies of NKG2C-expressing NK cells 7- or 14-days post-vaccination as compared to low responders, whereas the expression of CD57 was not differentially modulated. The NK cell cytotoxic potential was found to be confined to CD56<sup>dim</sup>CD16<sup>+</sup> NKG2C-expressing NK cells in the responders but not in the low responders, which was further confirmed by stochastic neighbor embedding analysis. The presented study is the first of its kind that ascribes CD56<sup>dim</sup>CD16<sup>+</sup> NKG2C-expressing NK cells a crucial role in biasing adaptive immune responses upon influenza vaccination and suggests NKG2C as a potential biomarker in predicting pandemic influenza vaccine responsiveness.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-393X/8/2/281influenzavaccinationvaccine responsivenessNK cellsNKG2C |
| spellingShingle | Peggy Riese Stephanie Trittel Rishi D. Pathirana Frank Klawonn Rebecca J. Cox Carlos A. Guzmán Responsiveness to Influenza Vaccination Correlates with NKG2C-Expression on NK Cells Vaccines influenza vaccination vaccine responsiveness NK cells NKG2C |
| title | Responsiveness to Influenza Vaccination Correlates with NKG2C-Expression on NK Cells |
| title_full | Responsiveness to Influenza Vaccination Correlates with NKG2C-Expression on NK Cells |
| title_fullStr | Responsiveness to Influenza Vaccination Correlates with NKG2C-Expression on NK Cells |
| title_full_unstemmed | Responsiveness to Influenza Vaccination Correlates with NKG2C-Expression on NK Cells |
| title_short | Responsiveness to Influenza Vaccination Correlates with NKG2C-Expression on NK Cells |
| title_sort | responsiveness to influenza vaccination correlates with nkg2c expression on nk cells |
| topic | influenza vaccination vaccine responsiveness NK cells NKG2C |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-393X/8/2/281 |
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