Specificity and in vitro transfer of the immunosuppressive effect of detergent-disrupted influenza virus vaccine.

Primed murine splenocytes give an in vitro antibody response to influenza whole virus vaccine (WVV), as measured by enzyme immunoassay (EIA). When subunit vaccine (SV) of either influenza A or influenza B virus was added to in vitro splenocyte cultures stimulated with WVV, the EIA antibody response to homologous WVV was reduced. This reduction in antibody response was observed when SV was prepared using zwitterionic detergent (empigen BB), non-ionic detergent (triton-X-100) or cationic detergent cetyl-trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB); it was found to be effected only by SV of strains of the same virus subtype--when SVs prepared from a heterotypic (H3N2) strain, an H1N1 strain and an influenza B strain were added to splenocyte cultures in the presence of WVV. When splenocytes from immunologically naive mice, exposed in vitro to SV, were transferred to secondary cultures of primed splenocytes, the antibody response to WVV in the secondary cultures was also reduced. Mechanisms that may suppress the in vitro antibody response are discussed.