Different arms of the adaptive immune system induced by a combination vaccine work in concert to provide enhanced clearance of influenza

Abstract

Current split influenza virus vaccines that induce strain-specific neutralising antibodies provide some degree of protection against influenza infection but there is a clear need to improve their effectiveness. The constant antigenic drift of influenza viruses means that vaccines are often not an exact match to the circulating strain and so levels of relevant antibodies may not be sufficiently high to afford protection. In the situation where the emergent influenza virus is completely novel, as is the case with pandemic strains, existing vaccines may provide no benefit. In this study we tested the concept of a combination vaccine consisting of sub-optimal doses of split influenza virus vacci..