Research discovers new mechanisms to improve antibody response rate and vaccine protection

Vaccines are of great value and significance, but factors such as ethnic factors, individual factors, and the form of the vaccine will affect the vaccine protection rate.

In response to the above problems, Lin Xinwen and Li Shuran, PhD students in the research group of Tang Hong, a researcher at the Shanghai Pasteur Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Trix Twelkmeyer, a postdoctoral fellow at the Guangzhou Women’s and Children’s Medical Center, published an online publication titled Homeostatic in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

The study found that granular antigens such as hepatitis B vaccine specifically induce a type of macrophages in lymph nodes, medullary sinus macrophages (MSM), to produce a kind of interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL- 1Ra) cytokines are the "culprit" that inhibits the production of high levels of antibodies by B cells.

The researchers further analyzed the sera of hepatitis B vaccine responders and non-responders, and found that the concentration of IL-1Ra in the serum of non-responders was significantly higher than that of responders, and there was a significant negative correlation with hepatitis B antibody titer.

The above research conclusions show that specific macrophages in draining lymph nodes regulate the level of Tfh/B cell antibody response through the production of IL-1Ra cytokines.