University of Toledo, Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology and Department of Pathology, Toledo OH 43614, USA.
Aging Dis. 2012 Feb;3(1):51-67. Epub 2011 Jul 20.
Streptococcus pneumoniae is a significant human pathogen and currently available pneumococcal vaccines are designed to elicit anti-capsule antibodies. The 23-valent polysaccharide vaccine has been used in older adults for many years whereas 7-, 10-, and 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccines have only been used commonly for young children in the last decade. In addition to their high protective efficacy among children, the use of conjugate vaccines in young children has had a number of additional effects, including production of a serotype shift and providing new herd immunity to adults. The immunogenicity of both of these types of vaccines can be determined by using an ELISA assay to measure antibody levels or an opsonophagocytosis assay to assess opsonic function. As these assays have improved over time, awareness of the analytical limitations of older studies has grown. While the 23-valent vaccine is effective among young adults, it is less effective among elderly adults. Aging-associated ineffectiveness may be due to aging-dependent changes in the antibody repertoire and/or a reduction in IgM antibody production associated with aging-dependent changes in B cell subpopulations. The immunologic basis of aging-associated immune defects thus remains an active area of research.
肺炎链球菌是一种重要的人类病原体，目前可用的肺炎球菌疫苗旨在诱导抗荚膜抗体。23 价多糖疫苗已在老年人中使用多年，而 7 价、10 价和 13 价肺炎球菌结合疫苗仅在过去十年中在幼儿中广泛使用。除了在儿童中具有很高的保护效力外，在幼儿中使用结合疫苗还产生了一些其他影响，包括产生血清型转变并为成年人提供新的群体免疫力。这两种疫苗的免疫原性都可以通过使用 ELISA 测定法来测量抗体水平或通过调理吞噬测定法来评估调理功能来确定。随着这些测定法的不断改进，人们对旧研究的分析局限性的认识也在不断提高。虽然 23 价疫苗在年轻人中有效，但在老年人中效果较差。与年龄相关的无效性可能是由于抗体库随年龄变化而发生的变化以及与 B 细胞亚群随年龄变化相关的 IgM 抗体产生减少所致。因此，与年龄相关的免疫缺陷的免疫学基础仍然是一个活跃的研究领域。
