In-concert immune dynamics during natural influenza virus infection and recovery in acute hospitalized patients

We report in-concert dynamics of 18 key immune parameters, related to clinical, genetic and virological factors, in patients hospitalized with influenza across different severity levels. Influenza disease was associated with correlated increases in IL6/IL-8/MIP-1; cytokines and lower antibody responses. Robust activation of circulating T follicular helper cells (cTfhs) correlated with peak antibody-secreting cells (ASC) and influenza heamaglutinin-specific memory B-cell numbers, which phenotypically differed from vaccination-induced B-cell responses. Influenza-specific CD8+/CD4+ T-cells increased early in disease and remained activated during patient recovery. Here, we describe the broadest to-date immune cellular networks underlying recovery from influenza infection, highly relevant to other infectious diseases.