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Clinical and Vaccine Immunology, June 2008, p. 995-1002, Vol. 15, No. 6
1071-412X/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/CVI.00037-08
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Effects of Antenatal and Postnatal Environments on CD4 T-Cell Responses to Mycobacterium bovis BCG in Healthy Infants in The Gambia{triangledown}

David J. C. Miles,1* Marianne van der Sande,2 Sarah Crozier,1 Olubukola Ojuola,3 Melba S. Palmero,1 Mariama Sanneh,1 Ebrima S. Touray,1 Sarah Rowland-Jones,1 Hilton Whittle,1 Martin Ota,1 and Arnaud Marchant4

MRC Laboratories Gambia, P.O. Box 273, Banjul, The Gambia,1 National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Bilthoven, The Netherlands,2 Department of Pediatrics, Bronx Lebanon Hospital Center, 1650 Selwyn Avenue, Bronx, New York 10457,3 Institute for Medical Immunology, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Charleroi, Belgium4

Received 30 January 2008/ Accepted 31 March 2008

The Mycobacterium bovis BCG vaccine has a poor record of efficacy in low-income tropical settings. Against this background, we evaluated the immune response of infants to mycobacterial antigens over the 2 years following BCG vaccination at birth by measuring the gamma interferon (IFN-{gamma}), interleukin-2 (IL-2), and CD154 responses of CD4 T cells. Similar numbers of cells expressed IFN-{gamma} in infants, 4- to 5-year-old children, and adults, while CD154 was not expressed at comparable levels until the second year of infancy. The IL-2 response remained relatively low in infants, children, and adults but correlated negatively with mother's body mass index and was highest among infants born to Mandinka mothers. Similarly, infants born in the wet season had a stronger CD154 response than those born in the dry season throughout the 2 years of the study. We conclude that the prenatal and perinatal environments have a lasting effect on the response of infants to the BCG vaccine.

* Corresponding author. Present address: MLW Clinical Research Programme, P.O. Box 30096, Chichiri, Blantyre 3, Malawi. Phone: 265 1876444-6. Fax: 265 1875774. E-mail: djcm1{at}liverpool.ac.uk

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 9 April 2008.

Clinical and Vaccine Immunology, June 2008, p. 995-1002, Vol. 15, No. 6
1071-412X/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/CVI.00037-08
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.





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