Persistence of protection against invasive bacteria-memory b cell response in infants after immunisation

Abstract

Rapid waning of antibody and vaccine effectiveness is observed following infant immunisation with protein-polysaccharide conjugate vaccines. This is despite the demonstrable presence of immunological memory. However, disease can develop within a few days of carriage acquisition of encapsulated bacteria. Persistence of functional antibody, therefore, appears to be the key determinant of long-term protection against invasive bacterial diseases. Antibody persistence is thought to depend on the survival of long-lived plasma cells and memory B cells generated in germinal centres (GC). Using the ELISpot method, the kinetics of the B cell response following a booster dose of MenC conjugate vaccine (MenCV) at one year of age, and following a 2 dose-primary course of a new tetravalent meningococcal vaccine (MenACWY-CRM197) given at 2 and 4 months of age, were determined. It was found that priming with these vaccines induced protective antibody levels in the majority of children but detectable memory B cells only in a subset of children. A strong association was found between the level of polysaccharide-specific antibody and memory B cells produced after priming, and the persistence of functional antibody at one year of age