Abstract

Most vaccines provide protection by generating long-lived antibody-secreting plasma cells that block the ability of a pathogen to establish an infection. The production of vaccine-specific antibody can occur via the germinal centre response, a specialised microenvironment that produces memory B cells and long-lived antibody secreting plasma cells. With advancing age, the magnitude of germinal centre response declines, resulting in decreased production of long-lived high-affinity plasma cells, decreased serum antibody levels after vaccination, and thus impaired protection against subsequent infection. We have established a influenza A virus mRNA-LNP vaccination and efficacy testing pipeline to: 1) Understand age-related changes that contribute to impaired germinal centre formation and function. 2) Test inventions to improve vaccine effectiveness in the context of ageing.