Immunogenic and isotype-specific responses to Russian and US cold-adapted influenza a vaccine donor strains A/Leningrad/134/17/57, A/Leningrad/134/47/57, and A/Ann Arbor/6/60 (H2N2) in mice.

The immunogenicity of the Russian cold-adapted (ca) donor stains, A/Leningrad (Len)/134/17/57 and A/Leningrad/134/47/57, and the US strain A/Ann Arbor (AA)/6/60-ca, were compared in BALB/c mice with their respective wild-type parental viruses. Each ca donor strain was less immunogenic than its wild-type parent. The vaccinating dose, when administered twice, which prevented multiplication of a standard challenge of parental wild-type virus in 50% of mice (the 50% protective dose or PD(50)), was shown for A/Len/134/17/57-ca, A/Len/134/47/57-ca, and A/AA/6/60-ca to be 10(3.77), 10(4.32), and 10(4.70), respectively. These findings were extended by measuring the number of antibody secreting cells induced in the lungs and mediastinal lymph nodes of mice infected with the same ca donors using an ELISPOT assay. When each donor strain was administered twice at a dose of 100 PD(50) over a 3-week interval, the overall immunoglobulin isotype antibody secreting cell profiles were shown to be similar. However, A/Len/134/17/57-ca and A/Len/134/47/57-ca induced significantly higher total immunoglobulin responses in the lungs than A/AA/6/60-ca (P < 0.05). A/Len/134/17/57-ca also induced a significantly greater IgA response in the lungs than A/AA/6/60-ca (P < 0.05). These results suggest that A/Len/134/17/57-ca is a superior immunogen to A/Len/134/47/57-ca which in turn is more immunogenic than A/AA/6/60-ca.