Centre for Infectious Disease and Control (Cib), National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Bilthoven, The Netherlands.
Vaccine. 2011 Feb 4;29(7):1431-7. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2010.12.033. Epub 2010 Dec 25.
Whooping cough is a respiratory disease caused by Bordetella pertussis. Since the 1950s in developed countries pertussis vaccinations are included in the national immunization program. However, antibody levels rapidly wane after both whole cell and acellular pertussis vaccination. Therefore protection against pertussis may depend largely on long-term B- and T-cell immunities. We investigated long-term pertussis-specific memory B-cell responses in children who were primed at infant age with the Dutch wP-vaccine (ISRCTN65428640). Purified B-cells were characterized by FACS-analysis and after polyclonal stimulation memory B-cells were detected by ELISPOT-assays specific for pertussis toxin, filamentous haemagglutinin, pertactin and tetanus. In addition, plasma IgG levels directed to the same antigens were measured by a fluorescent bead-based multiplex immunoassay. Two and 3 years after wP priming as well as 2 and 5 years after the aP booster at the age of 4, low plasma IgG levels to the pertussis proteins were found. At the same time, however pertussis protein-specific memory B-cells could be detected and their number increased with age. The number of tetanus-specific memory B-cells was similar in all age groups, whereas IgG-tetanus levels were high 2 years after tetanus booster compared to pre- and 5 years post-booster levels. This study shows the presence of long-term pertussis protein-specific memory B-cells in children despite waning antibody levels after vaccination, which suggests that memory B-cells in addition to antibodies may contribute to protection against pertussis.
百日咳是由博德特氏菌引起的呼吸道疾病。自 20 世纪 50 年代以来，发达国家已将百日咳疫苗纳入国家免疫计划。然而，全细胞和无细胞百日咳疫苗接种后，抗体水平迅速下降。因此，对百日咳的保护可能在很大程度上依赖于长期的 B 细胞和 T 细胞免疫。我们研究了在婴儿时期接受荷兰 wP 疫苗（ISRCTN65428640）初次免疫的儿童中百日咳特异性记忆 B 细胞反应的长期情况。通过 FACS 分析对纯化的 B 细胞进行了特征描述，并用 ELISPOT 测定法检测针对百日咳毒素、丝状血凝素、 pertactin 和破伤风类毒素的多克隆刺激后的记忆 B 细胞。此外，还通过基于荧光珠的多重免疫分析法测量了针对相同抗原的血浆 IgG 水平。在 wP 初次免疫后 2 年和 3 年以及 4 岁时 aP 加强免疫后 2 年和 5 年，发现对百日咳蛋白的血浆 IgG 水平较低。然而，同时可以检测到百日咳蛋白特异性记忆 B 细胞，并且其数量随年龄增长而增加。所有年龄组的破伤风特异性记忆 B 细胞数量相似，而破伤风加强免疫后 2 年的破伤风 IgG 水平高于加强免疫前和 5 年后的水平。这项研究表明，尽管疫苗接种后抗体水平下降，但儿童体内仍存在长期的百日咳蛋白特异性记忆 B 细胞，这表明记忆 B 细胞除了抗体之外，可能有助于预防百日咳。
