Intranasal adenovirus type 5 influenza vaccination enhances milk antibody responses and passive transfer to neonatal ferrets
- 1Case Western Reserve University
Abstract
Newborns and infants are particularly vulnerable to influenza, largely due to the immaturity of their immune systems. As such, maternal immunization is a valuable strategy to enhance influenza-neutralizing antibodies in both blood and breast milk, ensuring optimal passive immunity transfer to the infant. In our pregnant and lactating ferret maternal-neonatal model, we evaluated antibody responses to an adenovirus type 5-vectored H1N1 hemagglutinin vaccine delivered enterically, intranasally, or intramuscularly. While all three routes elicited a robust antibody response compared to saline-treated controls, intranasal vaccination significantly increased influenza-specific antibodies in dam serum, upper respiratory tract secretions, and milk, and subsequent transfer to suckling kits. Our results suggest that intranasal immunization was the most effective route for inducing functional influenza-specific antibodies in both dam serum and milk, with efficient passive transfer to suckling kits. Leveraging mucosal immune induction may enhance maternal antibody responses, transfer to offspring, and downstream neonatal protection.
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BibTeX
@misc{stafford2026intranasal,
title = {{Intranasal adenovirus type 5 influenza vaccination enhances milk antibody responses and passive transfer to neonatal ferrets}},
author = {L. S. Stafford and P. Baker and M. Moyer and J. Byrne and C. Beverly and S. Henry and Y. Bai and Y. Skomorovska-Prokvolit and M. Cook and A. Goel and F. Sun and S. Tucker and S. Langel},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.64898/2026.09.26.754702},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.26.754702v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Intranasal adenovirus type 5 influenza vaccination enhances milk antibody responses and passive transfer to neonatal ferrets
AU - L. S. Stafford
AU - P. Baker
AU - M. Moyer
AU - J. Byrne
AU - C. Beverly
AU - S. Henry
AU - Y. Bai
AU - Y. Skomorovska-Prokvolit
AU - M. Cook
AU - A. Goel
AU - F. Sun
AU - S. Tucker
AU - S. Langel
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/26
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.09.26.754702
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.26.754702v1
AB - Newborns and infants are particularly vulnerable to influenza, largely due to the immaturity of their immune systems. As such, maternal immunization is a valuable strategy to enhance influenza-neutralizing antibodies in both blood and breast milk, ensuring optimal passive immunity transfer to the infant. In our pregnant and lactating ferret maternal-neonatal model, we evaluated antibody responses to an adenovirus type 5-vectored H1N1 hemagglutinin vaccine delivered enterically, intranasally, or intramuscularly. While all three routes elicited a robust antibody response compared to saline-treated controls, intranasal vaccination significantly increased influenza-specific antibodies in dam serum, upper respiratory tract secretions, and milk, and subsequent transfer to suckling kits. Our results suggest that intranasal immunization was the most effective route for inducing functional influenza-specific antibodies in both dam serum and milk, with efficient passive transfer to suckling kits. Leveraging mucosal immune induction may enhance maternal antibody responses, transfer to offspring, and downstream neonatal protection.
ER -