H5N1 Vaccine-Specific B Cell Responses in Ferrets Primed with Live Attenuated Seasonal Influenza Vaccines

Background: Live attenuated influenza H5N1 vaccines have been produced and evaluated in mice and ferrets that were never exposed to influenza A virus infection (Suguitan et al., Plos Medicine, e360: 1541, 2006). However, the preexisting influenza heterosubtypic immunity on live attenuated H5N1 vaccine induced immune response has not been evaluated. Methodology and Principal Findings: Primary and recall B cell responses to live attenuated H5N1 vaccine viruses were examined using a sensitive antigen-specific B cell ELISpot assay to investigate the effect of preexisting heterosubtypic influenza immunity on the development of H5N1-specific B cell immune responses in ferrets. Live attenuated H5N1 A/Hong Kong/213/03 and A/Vietnam/1203/04 vaccine viruses induced measurable H5-specific IgM and IgG secreting B cells after intranasal vaccination. However, H5-specific IgG secreting cells were detected significantly earlier and at a greater frequency after H5N1 inoculation in ferrets previously primed with trivalent live attenuated influenza (H1N1, H3N2 and B) vaccine. Priming studies further revealed that the more rapid B cell responses to H5 resulted from cross-reactive B cell immunity to the hemagglutinin H1 protein. Moreover, vaccination with the H1N1 vaccine virus was able to induce protective responses capable of limiting replication of the H5N1 vaccine virus to a level comparable with prior vaccination with the H5N1 vaccine virus without affecting H5N1 vaccine virus induced antibody response. Conclusion: The findings indicate that previous vaccination with seasonal influenza vaccine may accelerate onset of immunity by an H5N1 ca vaccine and the heterosubtypic immunity may be beneficial for pandemic preparedness.