So I work with influenza in vaccine development. In my most recent experiment I had a high antibody response in the mice (similar to what we have seen in mice with high immunity to influenza), but these mice had very low survival - almost identical to naive group who received no vaccine. I have repeated the ELISA and know there is no problem with my ELISA results. Has anyone ever encountered a similar instance where the antibody response was high but the survival was low?
The importance is not in the level of total antibodies but in the specificity of the antibodies generated by the vaccine. It is actually very common to have a high level of antibodies but to have very little protection. There are many examples: rabies vaccine, influenza, ebola, leptospira, and especially HIV. All these vaccines induce large amounts of antibodies detectable by ELISA, but these are not protective. Very often they are even facilitating and will increase very significantly the risk of superinfection and mortality. In fact it is the balance between the neutralizing antibodies and the other induced antibodies, with no effect or facilitating, which defines the protection power. And not the amount of antibodies produced. EVERYTHING IS A CASE OF TARGETED EPITOPE AND NOT VACCINE REPETITION
Jean-Jacques Pin The ELISA I performed tested for the IgG response against the influenza epitope, so these were specific.
Thank you very much for your help!
Kejun Guo Thank you very much for the response! Unfortunately, our vaccine is based on the ADCC pathway and does not involve a neutralizing antibody. Based on what I have been reading about plaque assays, a neutralizing antibody is required.