The transcriptional response in HSV naive women is dominated by IFN responses and correlates negatively with vaccine-induced neutralizing antibody titer
HSV2
Multiple transcriptional pathways showed enrichment when responses at day 1 were analyzed for a greater effect of sex in HSV naive compared to HSV exposed subjects. These pathways included dendritic cell activation, antigen presentation, monocytes, and neutrophils which were all related to the most significantly enriched module involving IFN antiviral sensing (The day 1 transcriptional response associated with HSV naive women may have influenced their faster neutralizing antibody responses, which were observed more frequently in the first 30 days after vaccination in comparison to HSV naive men (Variation in antiviral IFN signature responses at day 1 showed significant negative correlations with HSV2 neutralizing antibody titers, observed either at day 30 or 60, for HSV naive women (Pearson coefficients −0.7, p < 0.04) (