H3N2 Mismatch of 2014-15 Northern Hemisphere Influenza Vaccines and Head-to-head Comparison between Human and Ferret Antisera derived Antigenic Maps

The poor performance of 2014-15 Northern Hemisphere (NH) influenza vaccines was attributed to mismatched H3N2 component with circulating epidemic strains. Using human serum samples collected from 2009-10, 2010-11 and 2014-15 NH influenza vaccine trials, we assessed their cross-reactive hemagglutination inhibition (HAI) antibody responses against recent H3 epidemic isolates. All three populations (children, adults, and older adults) vaccinated with the 2014-15 NH egg-or cell-based vaccine, showed > 50% reduction in HAI post-vaccination geometric mean titers against epidemic H3 isolates from those against egg-grown H3 vaccine strain A/Texas/50/2012 (TX/12e). The 2014-15 NH vaccines, regardless of production type, failed to further extend HAI cross-reactivity against H3 epidemic strains from previous seasonal vaccines. Head-to-head comparison between ferret and human antisera derived antigenic maps revealed different antigenic patterns among representative egg-and cell-grown H3 viruses characterized. Molecular modeling indicated that the mutations of epidemic H3 strains were mainly located in antibody-binding sites A and B as compared with TX/12e. To improve vaccine strain selection, human serologic testing on vaccination-induced cross-reactivity need be emphasized along with virus antigenic characterization by ferret model.