Determining the potential universal applicability of a diurnal response to vaccination and the associated circadian immune processes
Description: Vaccination programmes are a core element of public health strategy worldwide and are key to preventing a wide range of life threatening infections. For example, the influenza vaccination is part of the seasonal vaccination programme carried out by GP surgeries across the UK, with adults aged 65+ years being the majority of recipients. Adults aged 65+ are also now offered a one off vaccination against pneumonia and shingles. Despite good uptake of these vaccinations among older adults (>70 % for the annual flu vaccination in the UK), the over 65s make up the highest proportion of the influenza-related hospitalisations and mortalities and Pneumonia is the 5th highest cause of death in the UK. These data suggest that the vaccines work less well in older adults and an analysis of 31 studies that measured the efficacy of the flu vaccination found in older adults this varied from 17-53%, compared with 70-90% in young adults. Most older adults are therefore not fully protected against infections by the national vaccination programme. There are many reasons for this poor response to vaccines, but a major factor is that the immune system functions less well as we age. This project will investigate a novel way to improve vaccination responses in older adults.
It has become clear in the last decade that the immune system works better at different times of day, it shows a circadian rhythm. Bearing this in mind our previous project funded by MRC carried out a study looking at whether having the influenza vaccination in the morning versus the afternoon made a difference to how well the vaccine worked (how much antibody was produced in the blood). The results showed that the vaccine worked significantly better in the morning, which gives a cost neutral and quick way to improve vaccination responses in older adults. What we don't know is whether this response is unique to the influenza vaccine and how the time of day effect is achieved. This project will examine the time of day effect on the influenza vaccine and also the pneumonia vaccine Pneumovax 23, which will allow us to compare responses with two very different types of vaccine (protein and non protein). This is important as it will indicate whether the beneficial effect of morning vaccination might be seen in a wide range of vaccines which are either protein or non-protein in nature. We will also use mice to determine exactly how the time of day affects the immune response and our ability to produce antibody to increase our understanding of this important aspect of immunity relevant to public health medicine.
Funder: Medical Research Council
Amount: £550,100
Funding type: research
Start date: 2017-01-01
End date: 2021-03-30
Funded outputs count: 9
Funder award ID: MR/P001874/1
OpenAlex ID: G6989576694