Induction of neonatal TH1 and CTL responses by live viral vaccines: a role for replication patterns within antigen presenting cells?

Failure to generate CTL responses in early life has been linked to the preferential maturation of CD4 T cells into TH2 rather than TH1 cells in response to some, but not other, antigenic stimulations. Here, we provide preliminary evidence for the role of the viral replication pattern in the shaping of neonatal cellular responses to live viral vaccines. Neonatal and early life immunization with live attenuated Sendai virus vaccine led to the induction of IgG2a antibodies and cytotoxic responses as efficiently as immunization of adult animals. Similarly, although early life immunization with live attenuated measles virus led to preferential TH2 polarization of T cells compared with adult primed animals, it allowed the induction of CTL responses which had not been observed following immunization with a live recombinant canarypox vector. Thus, conversely to a non-replicating canarypox recombinant vaccine expressing the measles haemagglutonin, viral vaccines with limited but present replication capacity appear capable of activating neonatal antigen presenting cells to trigger TH1 and CTL responses, as recently observed for DNA vaccines.