Natural killer cell cytotoxicity in elderly humans after influenza immunization

Previous studies have reported that human natural killer (NK) cytotoxicity can be augmented by either in vitro stimulation with influenza virus antigens or in vivo administration of killed influenza vaccine. The study demonstrating the latter conclusion reported an increase in NK cytotoxicity lasting for 4 weeks postvaccination in young subjects. We initiated our study to determine if a similar increase in NK activity was observed in an elderly population after immunization with the 1992-1993 influenza vaccine. NK activity of 34 elderly (mean age, 77.3 years) was determined at 3 time points: prevaccination, 4 to 6 weeks postvaccination, and 5 to 6 months after vaccination. In contrast to the results of the previous study, the NK cytotoxicity of our elderly subjects was not augmented by the influenza vaccine at any time tested. We also determined the number of CD56+ cells in whole-blood samples at each of the time points and found that there is no change in NK cell number after influenza vaccination.