Immune response to influenza and pneumococcal vaccines in mice

The immune response of mice injected with influenza vaccine (FluV) or pneumococcal vaccine (PV) given separately or simultaneously was evaluated. Balb/c mice were divided into six groups. Group I served as control, the mice in group II were injected intraperitoneally with PV, in group III intramuscularly with FluV two weeks after the onset of the study. The mice from group IV received PV and 2 weeks later were injected with FluV, mice in group V were given FluV, whereas group VI received both FluV and PV simultaneously. The results showed that the proliferative response of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) significantly increased in animals from groups II, V and VI, whereas the proliferation of splenocytes increased in mice from groups II, III, IV, and VI. These observations indicate a comparable effect of both vaccines, at least when the proliferative response of PBMC and splenocytes were considered.