Potential Association Between Dietary Fibre and Humoral Response to the Seasonal Influenza Vaccine

Abstract

Influenza vaccination is an effective public health measure to reduce the risk of influenza illness, particularly when the vaccine is well matched to circulating strains. Notwithstanding, the efficacy of influenza vaccination varies greatly among vaccinees due to largely unknown immunological determinants, thereby dampening population-wide protection. Here, we report that dietary fibre may play a significant role in humoral vaccine responses. We found dietary fibre intake and the abundance of fibre-fermenting intestinal bacteria to be positively correlated with humoral influenza vaccine-specific immune responses in human vaccinees, albeit without reaching statistical significance. Importantly, this correlation was largely driven by first-time vaccinees; prior influenza vaccination negatively correlated with vaccine immunogenicity. In support of these observations, dietary fibre consumption significantly enhanced humoral influenza vaccine responses in mice, where the effect was mechanistically linked to short-chain fatty acids, the bacterial fermentation product of dietary fibre. Overall, these findings may bear significant importance for emerging infectious agents, such as COVID-19, and associated de novo vaccinations.

Vaccine Immunogenicity versus Gastrointestinal Microbiome Status: Implications for Poultry Production

“…Lin et al [56] discovered that antibiotic exposure for at least seven days during the first two years of a child's life was positively correlated (p < 0.01) with chicken pox disease incidence, regardless of chicken pox vaccination status. Similar results were emulated in the murine model, where various types of antibiotic treatment and durations of exposure lead to decreased vaccine immunogenicity along with decreased gut microbiota diversity [57][58][59][60].…”

Correlation of gut microbiota and metabolic functions with the antibody response to the BBIBP-CorV vaccine

“… 50 A recent study has observed that microbial-derived SCFAs improve the humoral immune response to seasonal influenza vaccine. 51 Fecal concentrations of SCFAs are significantly lower in COVID-19 patients, and SARS-CoV-2 infection may be related to the impaired capacity for SCFA production. 52 In the present study, we observed that several SCFAs displayed a slight but nonsignificant decrease after the BBIBP-CorV vaccination.…”

Alterations in the gut microbiome and its metabolites are associated with the immune response to mucosal immunization with Lactiplantibacillus plantarum-displaying recombinant SARS-CoV-2 spike epitopes in mice

“…In current literature, certain in vitro models have demonstrated the pro-viral effects of exogenous butyrate in viral replication due to their known role as a histone deacetylase inhibitor (HDAC) and effects on the type I IFN response ( Chemudupati et al., 2020 ). However, exogenous administration of butyrate has also been shown to enhance immune responses to various vaccines ( Sim et al., 2018 ; Cait et al., 2021 ; Wu et al., 2023 ). These contradicting effects may be due to the different types of SCFA administered, viruses and immortalized cell lines tested ( Wirusanti et al., 2022 ), but certainly highlights the importance of microbiome experimental models and the understanding of the gut microbiota and their derived metabolites in immunoregulation.…”