Antibody persistence and booster response following MenACWY-CRM vaccination in children as assessed by two different assay methods

Abstract

BackgroundThe quadrivalent meningococcal conjugate vaccine MenACWY-CRM has been shown to be immunogenic and well-tolerated in infants and toddlers. We evaluated antibody persistence for up to 4 years after vaccination with MenACWY-CRM in the first years of life and response to a booster dose administered at 60 months of age. MethodsThis was phase 3b, open-label, multicenter extension trial (NCT01148017). We assessed by hSBA and rSBA the persistence of antibody responses to serogroups ACWY in 203 healthy 60-month-olds receiving 4 doses of MenACWY-CRM during infancy (ACWY-4 group), or 2 doses at 12/13 and 15 months or 1 dose at 18 months of age (ACWY-2 group). We administered a MenACWY-CRM dose to 224 primed and 45 naïve 60-month-olds and evaluated safety and antibody response 1 month later. ResultsAntibody persistence measured by both assays was higher in primed than naïve 60-month-olds. The percentages of primed children with hSBA titers ≥8 was low for serogroup A (6–25%) and moderate for serogroups C (27–43%), Y (69–74%) and W (56–69%). For all serogroups, hSBA antibody geometric mean titers (GMTs) tended to be higher in the ACWY-2 than the ACWY-4 group. Post-booster/single dose, ≥96% of primed and ≥73% of naïve children had hSBA titers ≥8 against each serogroup, and hSBA GMTs were higher in primed children. The booster dose was well-tolerated and no safety concern was identified. We further assessed persistence using rSBA across different age groups and detected no overall correlation between rSBA and hSBA titers. ConclusionsPrimary vaccination of infants/toddlers with MenACWY-CRM resulted in moderate antibody persistence against serogroups C, W and Y for up to 4 years after the last priming dose. Regardless of priming schedule, a MenACWY-CRM booster dose at 60 months of age induced a robust immune response against all serogroups and was well-tolerated in all children.