Cell-mediated immune responses to influenza vaccination in Wegener's granulomatosis

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate whether Wegener's granulomatosis (WG) patients show CD4+ T-cell responses to influenza vaccination. Background: Both antibody and cell-mediated immune responses are involved in the defense against influenza. In WG, cell-mediated immune responses to influenza vaccination have not been evaluated. Methods: Twenty-five WG patients and healthy controls received subunit influenza vaccine. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells were obtained before and 1 month after vaccination. Cell-mediated responses to A/H1N1 and A/H3N2 were assessed using interferon-α (IFN-α) ELISPOT, IFN-α ELISA and intracellular cytokine staining for IFN-α, tumor necrosis factor (TNF) and interleukin-2 (IL-2). Results: Before vaccination, WG patients and healthy controls showed similar recall responses to A/H1N1 and A/H3N2. Following vaccination, both patients and controls showed similar levels of increase in spot-forming cells against A/H1N1 (p = 0.009 and p