Similar Antibody Levels in 3-Year-Old Children Vaccinated Against Measles, Mumps, and Rubella at the Age of 12 Months or 18 Months

Background. Measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccinations have been offered to Finnish children at 14-18 months and 6 years of age. In May 2011, the recommended age for the first vaccine dose was lowered to 12 months because of the European measles epidemic. Methods. Fingertip capillary blood samples were collected from 3-year-old Finnish children vaccinated once with MMR vaccine at 11-19 months of age. The immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies to all 3 MMR antigens were measured with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Neutralizing antibodies and the avidity of antibodies were measured for measles virus. Results. From April through October 2013, 187 children were enrolled. Equally high proportions of the samples were seropositive for measles virus, mumps virus, or rubella virus antibodies, and there were no significant differences in the IgG antibody concentrations in children vaccinated at 11-13 months of age, compared with those vaccinated at 17-19 months of age. However, among children vaccinated at 11-13 months of age, boys had lower antibody concentrations than girls. Neutralizing measles virus antibody titers were above the threshold for protective immunity in all 78 samples analyzed. The measles virus antibody avidity indexes were high for all children. Conclusions. MMR induces similar antibody responses in 12-month-old children as compared to 18-month-old children, but in boys increasing age appears to improve the antibody responses.Peer reviewe

No Serological Evidence of Influenza A H1N1pdm09 Virus Infection as a Contributing Factor in Childhood Narcolepsy after Pandemrix Vaccination Campaign in Finland

Peer reviewe

Elinvoimaisuus tulevaisuuden voimavarana - Monialaiset YAMK opinnäytetyöt pohjoista elinvoimaisuutta kehittämässä

Elinvoimaisuuden lisääminen ja lisääntyminen ovat olleet pääteemoja oheisen julkaisun kuudelle monialaiselle YAMK-opinnäytetyölle. Alkusysäyksen kehittämistehtävälle nämä kymmenen opiskelijaa ovat löytäneet läheltä; joko opinnäytetyön tekijän omalta työpaikalta tai läheisestä toimintaympäristöstä. Kokoomajulkaisu sisältää YAMK-opinnäytetyön tuotokset artikkelimuodossa. Julkaisun alkuun on koottu opinnäytetyöryhmän yhdessä kirjoittama taustoitus julkaisun pääteemoista ja käytetyistä kehittämis- ja tutkimusmenetelmistä

Analysis of NS1 protein-specific antibody responses in human sera by using recombinant influenza A virus NS1 proteins.

<p>Three µg of <i>E. coli</i>-expressed and preparative SDS-PAGE -purified recombinant proteins was loaded onto 12% SDS-PAGE gels. GST (26 kDa) and GST-NS1 A/Udorn/72 (H3N2) (52 kDa) proteins were loaded onto one gel and GST and GST-NS1 A/Finland/544/09 (H1N1) (52 kDa) proteins onto another gel, respectively. Proteins separated on gels were transferred onto nylon membranes. The membranes were sliced and stained with serially diluted human sera, obtained from five narcoleptic patients (patients: N001, N002, N003, N011, N014). In addition, paired serum samples were obtained from three patients, who had suffered from a laboratory confirmed H1N1pdm09 virus infection (patients: 11/1;acute phase serum sample from patient 11), 11/2 (convalescent sample from patient 11), 15/1, 15/2, 25/1, 25/2), and five serum samples were obtained from age-matched, control individuals (samples: 60, 79, 84, 86, 88), as indicated in the figure. The following dilutions were used: 1∶100 (lane 1), 1∶1,000 (lane 2) and 1∶10,000 (lane 3). After incubation with secondary Abs, the bands were visualized by staining with 3-amino-9-ethylcarbazole (AEC). GST and GST-NS1 proteins were visualized by staining with Coomassie Brilliant Blue as shown on the left.</p

A phylogram of influenza A virus NS1 amino acid sequences from 113 human isolates representing strains circulating in human population from 1918 to 2012.

<p>The phylogram was constructed by maximum parsimony method using MEGA 3.1 software. Branch lengths represent number of amino acid changes as indicated by the scale bar. GenBank accession number and the generic name of the virus subtype are shown. Viral NS1 sequences are grouped in different subtypes as indicated in the figure.</p

Statistical analyses of serum specimens for each patient group.

<p>Geometric mean antibody titers and 95% confidence interval against H1N1pdm09 subtype and H3N2 subtype NS1 proteins in serum specimens for each patient group.</p><p>Significance of the differences between the mean anti-NS1 H1/H3 virus protein antibody titers of narcoleptic patients and other patient groups.</p><p>Significance of the differences was calculated with Student’s t-test (two tailed, unequal variance).</p

Column charts showing antibody titers against H1N1pdm09 subtype and H3N2 subtype influenza A virus NS1 proteins in serum specimens obtained from narcoleptic patients.

<p>The relative antibody levels against N1N1pdm09 and H3N2 virus NS1 proteins were determined as the last serum dilution showing a positive signal in Western blot analysis. Blue columns show antibody titers against H1N1pdm09 subtype, and yellow columns show antibody titers against H3N2 subtype influenza A virus NS1 proteins in serum specimens obtained from 45 narcoleptic patients. Sera 2 and 27 (red arrows) show equally high titer levels against both NS1 protein subtypes.</p