Inflammatory responses to trivalent influenza virus vaccine among pregnant women
Highlights
► Examined inflammatory responses to trivalent influenza virus vaccine (TIV) in pregnant women. ► Significant increases in serum CRP were seen at one and two days after vaccination. ► TIV elicits measurable and highly variable inflammatory responses. ► TIV may be useful as an in vivo model to examine inflammatory processes in pregnancy. ► Research is needed to confirm that the mild inflammatory response to TIV is benign in pregnancy.
Section snippets
Participants
This study included 46 pregnant women who were assessed prior to and at either one day (n = 15), two days (n = 10), or approximately one week (6–9 days; n = 21) following seasonal influenza virus vaccination. Women were recruited through the Ohio State University Medical Center General Perinatal Clinic. Women were excluded from participation if they reported recent acute illness, chronic health conditions with implications for immune function, or if fetal anomaly or preeclampsia were indicated per
Demographic and behavioral characteristics
Demographic and behavioral characteristics of the study sample are presented in Table 1. Reflecting the demographic characteristics of the women served at the OSU General Perinatal Clinic, women in the study were predominately African-American (61.7%). The average age was 24.43 (SD = 4.38). Women were predominately in the late first to early second trimester at the time of vaccination [average weeks gestation = 15.1 (SD = 8.1)]. Few women endorsed receiving seasonal influenza vaccination in the
Discussion
These data demonstrate that seasonal influenza virus vaccination elicits a significant inflammatory response among pregnant women. The response was most robust at two days post-vaccination for C-reactive protein, with a similar, though nonsignificant, pattern of response for TNF-α. No statistically significant changes in IL-6 or MIF were evidenced. However, the power to detect effects was limited by sample size. Thus, despite changes in immune regulation previously reported in pregnancy,
Acknowledgements
Manuscript preparation was supported by NICHD (R21HD061644 and R21HD067670). The project described was also supported by Award Number UL1RR025755 from the National Center for Research Resources. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Center for Research Resources or the National Institutes of Health.
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