Effects of Chronic Viral Infection on Immune Response to Zoster Vaccination

This study aims to identify the innate and adaptive immune response to zoster vaccination. Half of the participants will be individuals with chronic hepatitis C, while the other half with healthy volunteers.The innate immune signature elicited by Zoster vaccination will be characterized by RNA-seq analysis of pre- and post-vaccination RNA from whole blood. We will compare fold changes in gene expression profiles pre- versus post-vaccination in each individual, as well as between the two arms of the study. RNA-seq will be used to assess innate immune activation by evaluating the changes to the expression levels of interferon-stimulated genes pre- and post-vaccination. Adaptive immune response will be determined by the traditional correlates of protection used in previous Zoster clinical studies in addition to flow cytometry24. Correlates of protection include antibody response, interferon gamma production and the frequency of responder cells post- vaccination24. For antibody production, we will perform Zoster glycoprotein ELISA (gpELISA) targeting IgG/IgM. The number and frequency of responder cells will be characterized by flow cytometry.