White Blood Cell Telomerase Activity and Incident Respiratory Illness Among Community‐Dwelling Elderly Vaccinated Against Seasonal Influenza

Immune cell telomerase activity may impact vaccine response in the elderly. Fifty persons aged 60–100 years were tested for post‐influenza vaccination telomerase RNA expression (TERT) in peripheral blood mononuclear cells to assess for an association with influenza antibody levels and influenza‐like illness or incident respiratory infection (IRI) in the year following vaccination. High rates of seroprotective influenza antibody (⩾1:40 titers) were observed post‐vaccination (86–92% to vaccine viral strains), with no association to TERT. No IRI occurred among persons in the top quartile of TERT expression, whereas the IRI rate was 33% in the lower three quartiles (Kaplan–Meier P=0.028). TERT expression was also IRI significantly higher in those who did not experience IRI than those who did in the follow‐up period (0.845 vs. 0.301, P=0.024). These data suggest that telomerase expression may correlate with immune capacity for vaccine response in the elderly and could represent a target for recognizing risk for vaccine failure. Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics (2007) 82, 694–699. doi:10.1038/sj.clpt.6100410; published online 31 October 2007