Obesity is associated with an altered baseline and post-vaccination influenza antibody repertoire

Abd Alhadi, Marwa; Friedman, Lilach M.; Karlsson, Erik A; Cohen-Lavi, Liel; Burkovitz, Anat; Schultz-Cherry, Stacey; Noah, Terry L; Weir, Samuel S; Shulman, Lester M.; Beck, Melinda A; Hertz, Tomer

As highlighted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, vaccination is critical for infectious disease prevention and control. Obesity is associated with increased morbidity and mortality from respiratory virus infections. While obese individuals respond to influenza vaccination, what is considered a seroprotective response may not fully protect the global obese population. In a cohort vaccinated with the 2010–2011 trivalent inactivated influenza vaccine, baseline immune history and vaccination responses were found to significantly differ in obese individuals compared to healthy controls, especially towards the 2009 pandemic strain of A/H1N1 influenza virus. Young, obese individuals displayed responses skewed towards linear peptides versus conformational antigens, suggesting aberrant obese immune response. Overall, these data have vital implications for the next generation of influenza vaccines, and towards the current SARS-CoV-2 vaccination campaign.