AUTHOR=Silveira Cássia G. T. , Magnani Diogo M. , Costa Priscilla R. , Avelino-Silva Vivian I. , Ricciardi Michael J. , Timenetsky Maria do Carmo S. T. , Goulart Raphaella , Correia Carolina A. , Marmorato Mariana P. , Ferrari Lilian , Nakagawa Zelinda B. , Tomiyama Claudia , Tomiyama Helena , Kalil Jorge , Palacios Ricardo , Precioso Alexander R. , Watkins David I. , Kallás Esper G. TITLE=Plasmablast Expansion Following the Tetravalent, Live-Attenuated Dengue Vaccine Butantan-DV in DENV-Naïve and DENV-Exposed Individuals in a Brazilian Cohort JOURNAL=Frontiers in Immunology VOLUME=13 YEAR=2022 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/immunology/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2022.908398 DOI=10.3389/fimmu.2022.908398 ISSN=1664-3224 ABSTRACT=

An effective vaccine against the dengue virus (DENV) should induce a balanced, long-lasting antibody (Ab) response against all four viral serotypes. The burst of plasmablasts in the peripheral blood after vaccination may reflect enriched vaccine-specific Ab secreting cells. Here we characterize the acute plasmablast responses from naïve and DENV-exposed individuals following immunization with the live attenuated tetravalent (LAT) Butantan DENV vaccine (Butantan-DV). The frequency of circulating plasmablasts was determined by flow cytometric analysis of fresh whole blood specimens collected from 40 participants enrolled in the Phase II Butantan-DV clinical trial (NCT01696422) before and after (days 6, 12, 15 and 22) vaccination. We observed a peak in the number of circulating plasmablast at day 15 after vaccination in both the DENV naïve and the DENV-exposed vaccinees. DENV-exposed vaccinees experienced a significantly higher plasmablast expansion. In the DENV-naïve vaccinees, plasmablasts persisted for approximately three weeks longer than among DENV-exposed volunteers. Our findings indicate that the Butantan-DV can induce plasmablast responses in both DENV-naïve and DENV-exposed individuals and demonstrate the influence of pre-existing DENV immunity on Butantan DV-induced B-cell responses.