Critical review of current and emerging quantification methods for the development of influenza vaccine candidates

Significant improvements in production and purification have been achieved since the first approved influenza vaccines were administered 75 years ago. Global surveillance and fast response have limited the impact of the last pandemic in 2009. In case of another pandemic, vaccines can be generated within three weeks with certain platforms. However, our Achilles heel is at the quantification level. Production of reagents for the quantification of new vaccines using the SRID, the main method formally approved by regulatory bodies, requires two to three months. The impact of such delays can be tragic for vulnerable populations. Therefore, efforts have been directed toward developing alternative quantification methods, which are sensitive, accurate, easy to implement and independent of the availability of specific reagents. The use of newly-developed antibodies against a conserved region of hemagglutinin (HA), a surface protein of influenza, holds great promises as they are able to recognize multiple subtypes of influenza; these new antibodies could be used in immunoassays such as ELISA and slot-blot analysis. HA concentration can also be determined using reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC), which obviates the need for antibodies but still requires a reference standard. The number of viral particles can be evaluated using ion-exchange HPLC and techniques based on flow cytometry principles, but non-viral vesicles have to be taken into account with cellular production platforms. As new production systems are optimized, new quantification methods that are adapted to the type of vaccine produced are required. The nature of these new-generation vaccines might dictate which quantification method to use. In all cases, an alternative method will have to be validated against the current SRID assay. A consensus among the scientific community would have to be reached so that the adoption of new quantification methods would be harmonized between international laboratories.