Metabolic Regulation of Influenza Vaccine Responses in Racially Diverse Hispanics

Racial and ethnic differences in vaccine responses, particularly within Hispanic populations, remain underexplored. Disparities in immune function may be influenced by metabolic and inflammatory mechanisms.

The current study investigated humoral immune responses to influenza vaccination in a diverse cohort of Hispanic individuals from South Florida, encompassing both White and Black Hispanics. Antibody responses were assessed post-vaccination, and B cell phenotypes were analyzed to evaluate inflammatory and metabolic characteristics. In vitro experiments were conducted to determine whether blocking metabolic pathways could alter the inflammatory phenotype of B cells. Data were analyzed using an unpaired Student's t-test (two-tailed), and correlation analysis was conducted with Pearson correlation.

Our findings indicated that Black Hispanic individuals exhibited significantly reduced antibody responses compared to White Hispanics (p < 0.01) following influenza vaccination. This diminished humoral response correlated with inversely with serum LDH (r = -0.58; p = 0.0005) and other intrinsic inflammatory phenotypes in blood-derived B cells and was supported by changes in metabolic activity. In vitro blockade of metabolic pathways effectively reduced the inflammatory phenotype of B cells from Black Hispanic individuals, suggesting a mechanistic link between metabolic dysfunction and impaired vaccine-induced immunity.

This study is the first to reveal racial disparities in influenza vaccine responses within a Hispanic population, highlighting reduced antibody production in Black Hispanics. These findings suggest that metabolically driven B cell inflammation may play a critical role and point to potential therapeutic strategies to address disparities in vaccine-induced immunity.