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Clinical and Vaccine Immunology, March 2007, p. 288-292, Vol. 14, No. 3
1071-412X/07/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/CVI.00364-06
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Martin Lee,3
Swei-Ju Chang,3
Joel Ward,3
Sandra Yoder,4
Hugues Bogaert,5 and
Kathryn M. Edwards4
Pediatric Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Children's Hospital, Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, Mainz, Germany,1 Department of Preventive Medicine, School of Medicine, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee,2 Harbor-UCLA, Torrance, California,3 Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee,4 GlaxoSmithKline, Rixensart, Belgium5
Received 5 October 2006/ Returned for modification 16 November 2006/ Accepted 16 January 2007
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Vaccines. Subjects were randomly assigned in a double-blind manner to receive either aP containing 8 µg of pertussis toxin (PT), 8 µg of filamentous hemagglutinin (FHA), and 2.5 µg of pertactin (PRN) or HAV containing 720 enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) units (EU) of hepatitis A antigen (HAVRIX) by deep intramuscular injection into the left deltoid. Both vaccines were adsorbed to aluminum hydroxide and were kindly provided by GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals, Rixensart, Belgium.
Blood samples. Both sera and heparinized whole blood were collected from the subset of subjects enrolled in the CMI studies before, 1 month after, and 1 year after vaccination. Sera were stored at 80°C until analysis. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) were isolated by Ficoll (Serva, Heidelberg, Germany) density gradient centrifugation and resuspended in inactivated fetal calf serum (Cambrex, NJ)-10% dimethyl sulfoxide for long-term storage in liquid nitrogen. Fetal calf sera were screened and were not associated with nonspecific-lymphocyte proliferation. Assays were not performed according to consecutive sample collection during the study period, but all samples were studied within a short time period to ensure consistent results. Furthermore, we compared the performances of fresh versus frozen cells in our assay. Although we demonstrated a 23% decrease in overall lymphoproliferation rates with freezing, we obtained highly consistent responses regarding differences in culture conditions (data not shown).
Serology. Immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies to PT, FHA, and PRN were assayed using standardized ELISAs modified from methods described previously (6, 7, 9, 17). ELISA units for IgG were determined by using U.S. reference pertussis antigen antisera (human) lots 3 and 4. The minimum level of detection for IgG antibody to each antigen was 2 EU/ml. The limit of quantitation was defined as the boundary below which the precision of assay quantitation declined; it was determined to be 6 EU/ml for PT-specific IgG and 8 EU/ml for FHA- and PRN-specific IgG.
Lymphocyte proliferation assay. PBMC were thawed according to a standardized protocol including quick warming to 4°C and immediate removal of freezing medium by washing with complete culture medium (RPMI 1640 medium with 1 mM sodium pyruvate, 0.05 mM 2-mercaptoethanol, 1x amino acids from minimal essential medium, 2 mM L-glutamine, 100 IU/ml penicillin, 100 µg/ml streptomycin, and 10% human AB serum [PAN Biotech, Aidenbach, Germany]) at room temperature. Lymphocytes were resuspended in complete culture medium and cultured at a cell density of 150,000 cells/200 µl on 96-well round-bottom culture plates (Greiner, Germany) for 5.5 days at 37°C and 5% CO2 in the presence of 10 µg/ml of PT, FHA, or PRN. Positive controls to show the general capacity for proliferation included PBMC cultured with 5 µg/ml of the mitogen phytohemagglutinin (Boehringer Mannheim, Germany) for 2.5 days. Negative controls included PBMC incubated for 2.5 days and 5.5 days in the absence of mitogens or antigens. Proliferative rates were determined by measuring [3H]thymidine (0.5 µCi of [3H]thymidine/well added during the last 16 h of culture) uptake by cultured PBMC by using a liquid scintillation counter (Betaplater 1205; WALLAC, Finland). All cultures were performed in triplicate.
To ensure the viability and suitability of the cells subjected to culture, only samples complying with each of the following criteria were used for final evaluation: (i) >80% of PBMC excluded propidium iodide at the start of the culture period, (ii) [3H]thymidine uptake exceeded 50,000 cpm after 2.5 days in the presence of the mitogen phytohemagglutinin in the positive control wells, and (iii) [3H]thymidine uptake was clearly below 9,000 cpm in the negative control wells.
The proliferative rates were expressed as geometric means of values for triplicate cultures. In accordance with previously published procedures (21), a positive CMI response was defined as a rate of antigen-stimulated proliferation at least fourfold higher than the rate of spontaneous proliferation (stimulation index,
4).
Detection of IFN-
and IL-5.
The cytokines gamma interferon (IFN-
) and interleukin 5 (IL-5) were measured in the culture supernatant after 5 days of antigenic stimulation by using commercial ELISA systems (Biosource, CA). IFN-
activity reflects Th1 responses, while IL-5 activity reflects Th2 responses.
Statistics. Antibody distributions were expressed as geometric mean titers (GMTs) by using logarithm-transformed data. Levels below the minimum level of detection were assigned a value of 1. Rates of antigen-specific-lymphocyte proliferation were compared with rates of proliferation in negative controls containing only media by using log-transformed geometric means of values for triplicate cell cultures (t test). Statistical analyses were performed using SigmaStat software (SPSS, Munich, Germany). Analyses of the correlation between antibody levels and quantitative cell proliferation data were performed by using linear regression of log ratios of values from 1 month and 1 year postvaccination to the prevaccination values.
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, 4,669 cpm). Samples from 55 subjects complied with all inclusion criteria and had all corresponding CMI and serologic data. Forty-nine of these subjects received aP, and six of these subjects received HAV. Demographically, excluded subjects did not differ from included ones (data not shown). The subset undergoing CMI studies had a mean age of 31.5 years (range, 16.1 to 59.4 years), 69.1% were female, and 41.8% were health care workers, and these characteristics were similar to those of the overall APERT participant group. Pertussis antigen-specific antibodies in serum. One month and 1 year after vaccination, concentrations of IgG antibodies to PT, FHA, and PRN in the aP group were significantly higher than before vaccination (Table 1) Pertussis antigen-specific-antibody increases were not observed in controls, and their postimmunization titers were comparable to prevaccination levels (Table 1). More detailed immunogenicity results from the combined study have been published elsewhere (10).
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TABLE 1. IgG antibody concentrations before and after vaccinationa
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FIG. 1. Responses of subjects to an acellular pertussis vaccine. The proliferation of pertussis antigen-specific lymphocytes (a and c) and antibody concentrations (b and d) were measured. Lymphocytes from 49 vaccinated subjects (aP group) (a) and those from the 6 members of the control group (c) were cultured in the presence of antigens (10 µg/ml PT, 10 µg/ml FHA, or 10 µg/ml PRN). [3H]thymidine (0.5 µCi) was added during the last 16 h of culture, and the level of incorporation was measured by scintillation counting (counts per minute). Stimulation indices were calculated as follows: (counts per minute for the culture with the antigen)/(counts per minute for the medium control). Serum samples from the vaccinated subjects (b) and the control group (d) were analyzed for pertussis antigen-specific IgG with ELISA. IgG concentrations are expressed as EU/ml. Lymphoproliferation measurements and serum antibody concentrations increased significantly at 1 month (post 1 m) and 1 year (post 1 yr) postvaccination compared to corresponding prevaccination (pre) values. Shaded bars indicate interquartile ranges, and black horizontal lines indicate median values. The outlier value (*) is attributed to a single subject; although the value for pertussis antigen-specific lymphoproliferation is high, prevaccination versus postvaccination data for the outlier did not reflect an impact of the vaccination.
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The secretion of pertussis antigen-specific IFN-
by lymphocytes was measured prevaccination and at both 1 month and 1 year after vaccination (Table 2). One month after vaccination, the secretion of IFN-
specific for PT, FHA, and PRN had increased 53-fold, 80-fold, and 66-fold, respectively. One year after vaccination, IFN-
secretion remained elevated compared with that in controls but was diminished by 60 to 70% relative to the 1-month-postvaccination levels. Little or no secretion of pertussis antigen-specific gamma interferon in HAV recipients was noted at any time point (Table 2).
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TABLE 2. Increases and decreases in IFN- and IL-5 pertussis antigen-specific-lymphocyte proliferation responsesa
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. HAV recipients had very little IL-5 secretion at any assessment point. Comparison of antibody and lymphoproliferative responses. Titers of individual antibodies to each pertussis antigen in the acellular pertussis vaccine recipients were compared to lymphoproliferative responses to the same antigens by linear regression. Statistically significant correlations between antibody titers and lymphoproliferative responses in the aP group were noted at 1 month postvaccination (Table 3) but not at 1 year after vaccination. The decay in antibody levels was greater than the decay in the interferon stimulation response.
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TABLE 3. Correlation between the lymphoproliferative (CMI) response and the IgG antibody responsea
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The role of humoral and cellular immunity in the prevention of pertussis infection and disease remains unclear. Studies of immune responses to acellular pertussis vaccines suggest that both B- and T-cell responses are elicited in mice (11, 18, 20) and humans (4, 16). In the present study, a significant increase in the proliferation of PBMC specific to all three pertussis vaccine antigens was demonstrated at 1 month after vaccination. This finding suggests the induction of an immunological memory response, presumably consisting of restimulated effector memory T cells as well as B-helper T cells. The observed level of proliferation is in accordance with data from other studies with human adults (1, 19) and also reflects data from pediatric vaccine trials (2, 3, 25). Additionally, our data suggest that pertussis antigen-specific humoral and cell-mediated immune responses correlate with each other at 1 month after acellular pertussis immunization.
In contrast to the appreciable decay in PT, FHA, and PRN antibody levels by 1 year after immunization, pertussis antigen-specific T-cell responses persisted at high levels. The prolonged presence of detectable T-cell-mediated immunity after the administration of the acelluar pertussis vaccine has been demonstrated previously with both infants (25, 26) and adults (4, 22). Mahon et al. (12) hypothesized that T-cell-mediated immune memory might be a major determinant of more prolonged protection whereas the immediate induction of antibodies may serve to combat the acute infection. The physiological basis of this difference has not been described. It has been recognized that following the cognate contact of helper T cells with B cells in the germinal center of secondary lymph nodes, affinity-maturated B-cell subsets develop. Antibody-secreting memory B cells are available for secondary antigen-specific responses (14). Thus, the decrease in antibody levels with time is likely attributable to a loss of plasma cells over time but the retention of memory B cells, which likely offer "boostability" when receiving instruction from memory T cells like those detected in our study. A correlation between the antibody levels and memory-T-cell responses during the early (prevaccination-to-1-month-postvaccination) phase exists, and the memory-B-cell pool could be activated upon a secondary antigen contact at a later time (1 year postvaccination).
We further measured specific cytokine secretion by pertussis antigen-specific stimulated T cells. Significant increases in IFN-
secretion by PBMC were seen 1 month after vaccination. Since increases in IL-5 were lower than increases in IFN-
, we speculate that the CMI responses to pertussis antigens were more Th1-like. Similar Th1 cytokine secretion profiles for adults (1, 19) and children (13) receiving acellular vaccines have been observed previously. The results of these studies indicate that healthy adolescents and adults immunized with a three-component acellular pertussis vaccine generate both humoral and sustained cell-mediated immune responses.
Published ahead of print on 31 January 2007. ![]()
Present address: Sanofi-Pasteur, Swiftwater, PA. ![]()
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