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Antibody response to meningococcal polysaccharides A and C in patients with complement defects.
- Source :
-
Scandinavian journal of immunology [Scand J Immunol] 1993 Jun; Vol. 37 (6), pp. 644-50. - Publication Year :
- 1993
-
Abstract
- Patients with defects of terminal complement components are particularly exposed to the risk of developing neisserial infections and seem to respond poorly to meningococcal capsular polysaccharide (PS) C via natural immunization. The sole meningococcal PSC is, on the other hand, an excellent immunogen in normal people. Considering the great importance of vaccine prophylaxis for the prevention of meningococcal infections in patients with complement defects, it is crucial to study the antibody response to the sole meningococcal PS in these patients. We therefore analysed the levels of anti-PSA and PSC antibodies in the members of four families including patients with homozygous and heterozygous defects of C7, C8 or factor H, before and after vaccination with the sole PSA + C. Surprisingly, we found the highest levels of antibodies before vaccination in homozygous subjects, followed by heterozygous and normal controls, whereas, after vaccination, homozygous subjects showed the lowest increase of specific antibodies, indicating their relative incapability to respond to sole meningococcal PS. In conclusion, this study demonstrates (1) the capacity to respond to meningococcal PS via natural immunization by patients with total complement defects, and (2) the low responsiveness to meningococcal PS via vaccine immunization by the same patients. We propose that vaccination should be given to patients lacking specific antibodies and their serological response should be assessed. In addition this study confirms previous observations on a likely lower immunogenic power of meningococcal serogroup C via natural immunization compared with the better immunogenicity of the sole PSC.
- Subjects :
- Adolescent
Adult
Antibody Formation
Antibody Specificity
Child
Complement Factor H deficiency
Female
Heterozygote
Homozygote
Humans
Immunologic Deficiency Syndromes genetics
Male
Middle Aged
Neisseria meningitidis immunology
Pedigree
Time Factors
Vaccination
Antibodies, Bacterial immunology
Complement C7 deficiency
Complement C8 deficiency
Polysaccharides, Bacterial immunology
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 0300-9475
- Volume :
- 37
- Issue :
- 6
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- Scandinavian journal of immunology
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 8316762
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-3083.1993.tb01677.x