Effect of age on 2008/2009 trivalent influenza vaccine response

To comprehensively compare the humoral immune response of young (20-31 years old) to older human subjects (60 to >90 years old) following vaccination with seasonal flu vaccine. We generated a peptide microarray featuring tiled peptides with sequences derived from the hemagglutinin proteins of multiple influenza strains. We probed the microarrays with pre- and post-vaccination serum from each age group. Serum antibody reactivity to the microarray peptides was quantified using fluorescently labeled anti-human secondary antibodies and a fluorescent microarray scanner.