Abstract
BackgroundAll children and adolescents between 1 and 19 years of age in The Netherlands received a single meningococcal serogroup C conjugate (MenCC) vaccine in 2002. During follow-up 4–5 years later, the persistence of MenC polysaccharide-specific IgG was found to be dependent on age of vaccination with higher IgG levels in the oldest immunized age categories.Methods and FindingsTwo cross-sectional population-based serum banks, collected in 1995/1996 and in 2006/2007, were used for this study. We measured MenC polysaccharide-specific IgM, the IgG1 and IgG2 subclasses and determined the avidity of the IgG antibodies. We report that the age-related persistence of IgG after immunization with the MenCC vaccine seemed to result from an increase of IgG2 levels with age, while IgG1 levels remained stable throughout the different age-cohorts. Furthermore, an age-related increase in IgM levels was observed, correlating with the persistence of IgG antibodies with age. It is noteworthy that the increase in IgG2 correlated with a reduced IgG-avidity with age.ConclusionThese date indicate that the classical characteristics of a T-cell-dependent antibody response as elicited by protein based vaccines might not be completely applicable when conjugate vaccines are administered to older children and adolescents up to 18 years of age. The response elicited by the MenCC vaccine seemed to be more a mixture of both T cell dependent and T cell independent responses in terms of humoral immunological characteristics.
Highlights
The response elicited by the meningococcal serogroup C (MenC) conjugate (MenCC) vaccine seemed to be more a mixture of both T cell dependent and T cell independent responses in terms of humoral immunological characteristics
Conjugate vaccines to prevent bacterial meningitis and sepsis caused by pathogens like Haemophilus influenzae type B (Hib), Streptococcus pneumoniae and Neisseria meningitidis have proven to lead to a tremendous decrease in incidence of these diseases when introduced in national immunization programs (NIPs) [1]
In the present study we investigated whether the immune response elicited by the single MenCC vaccine changed with age, in terms of height of the antibody levels during childhood and adolescence, and in terms of type and properties of antibodies induced
Summary
Conjugate vaccines to prevent bacterial meningitis and sepsis caused by pathogens like Haemophilus influenzae type B (Hib), Streptococcus pneumoniae and Neisseria meningitidis have proven to lead to a tremendous decrease in incidence of these diseases when introduced in national immunization programs (NIPs) [1]. In the Netherlands, a single MenC conjugate (MenCC) immunization (NeisVac-C, Baxter, USA) was implemented in the National Immunization Programme at 14 months of age in 2002 for all newborns and a catch-up campaign was simultaneously initiated targeting all children and adolescents from 1 year up to the age of 18 (vaccine coverage 94%). This approach resulted in an immediate and dramatic decline in MenC disease in all age categories with only few cases in unvaccinated individuals each year without any vaccine failures [6]. During follow-up 4–5 years later, the persistence of MenC polysaccharide-specific IgG was found to be dependent on age of vaccination with higher IgG levels in the oldest immunized age categories
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