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Is germinal center selection required for influenza vaccination?

Cellular & Molecular Immunology volume 14, pages 655–657 (2017)Cite this article

It has long been believed that the generation of high-affinity neutralizing antibodies is critical for antiviral humoral immunity. The production of high-affinity antibodies depends on the formation of germinal centers (GC) in lymph nodes and a subset of T cells called follicular helper T (TFH) cells in GCs. However, we discovered that T helper 1 (TH1) cells induce low-affinity IgG2 antibodies sufficient for preventing influenza A virus (IAV) infection.1

Influenza pandemics have become a serious public health concern in recent years. The emergence of the pandemic H1N1 IAV in 2009 reminds us of the constant threat of zoonotic IAV, and H5N1 is a highly virulent avian IAV that causes high mortality. Vaccination is critical for preventing the spread of the influenza virus in the population. However, there is no vaccine that offers adequate protection against emerging flu viruses. Thus, a better understanding of the mechanism of neutralizing antibody induction during influenza infection is essential to develop alternative vaccines against emerging pandemic influenza. In general, antibodies mediate the protective response against viral products, including the envelope glycoprotein hemagglutinin (HA). IgG2 is the predominant protective subclass of antibody isoforms, although IgG1 and IgG3 also contribute.2, 3 The pathogen-specific IgG2 response is known to be differentially regulated from the IgG1 response, which is the major antibody response to soluble antigens. However, the mechanism underlying the generation of IgG2 specific for IAV remains unclear.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A) (24249058) to MK. This work was supported by the Takeda Science Foundation, Uehara Foundation and The Naito Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory for Cytokine Regulation, Research Center for Integrative Medical Science (IMS), RIKEN Yokohama Institute, Yokohama, 230-0045, Kanagawa, Japan

    Kosuke Miyauchi & Masato Kubo

  2. Division of Molecular Pathology, Research Institute for Biomedical Science, Tokyo University of Science, Noda, 278-0022, Chiba, Japan

    Masato Kubo

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  1. Kosuke Miyauchi
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Correspondence to Masato Kubo.

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Miyauchi, K., Kubo, M. Is germinal center selection required for influenza vaccination?. Cell Mol Immunol 14, 655–657 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/cmi.2017.40

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