We used pre- and post-vaccination mRNA-Seq transcriptional profiling on samples from 159 subjects (50–74 years old) following receipt of seasonal trivalent influenza vaccine containing the A/California/7/2009/H1N1-like virus, and penalized regression modeling to identify associations with influenza A/H1N1-specific memory B cell ELISPOT response after vaccination.
Genesets and genes (p-value range 7.92E−08 to 0.00018, q-value range 0.00019–0.039) demonstrating significant associations (of gene expression levels) with memory B cell response suggest the importance of metabolic (cholesterol and lipid metabolism-related), cell migration/adhesion, MAP kinase, NF-kB cell signaling (chemokine/cytokine signaling) and transcriptional regulation gene signatures in the development of memory B cell response after influenza vaccination.
Through an unbiased transcriptome-wide profiling approach, our study identified signatures of memory B cell response following influenza vaccination, highlighting the underappreciated role of metabolic changes (among the other immune function-related events) in the regulation of influenza vaccine-induced immune memory.