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July 07, 2003

INTERNATIONAL IMMUNIZATION NEWS

“Functional Antibodies Elicited by an 11-Valent Diphtheria-Tetanus Toxoid-Conjugated Pneumococcal Vaccine”

Journal of Infectious Diseases (www.journals.uchicago.edu/JID/home.html)

(06/01/03) Vol. 187, No. 11, P. 1704; Puumalainen, Taneli; Ekström, Nina;

Zeta-Capeding, Rose 

The aluminum-adjuvanted 11-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine contains

polysaccharides 1, 4, 5, 7E, 9V, 19F, and 23F coupled to tetanus protein

and polysaccharides 3, 6B, 14, and 18C coupled to diphtheria toxoid.  When

administered to infants in the Philippines, the children exhibited high

concentrations of antibodies against the pneumococcal strains.  Fifty

children were given the vaccine at six weeks, 10 weeks, 14 weeks, and nine

months of age, coinciding with the nation’s vaccination program, to observe

the functional activity of the antibodies via a cell opsonophagocytic

assay.  The children had antibody levels against various pneumococcal

serotypes ranging from undetectable to barely detectable before

vaccination, but they exhibited large jumps in antibody levels during the

first three doses.  Before the nine-month dose, antibody concentrations

fell dramatically, but after that fourth dose the antibody levels were much

higher than their best post-third dose levels.  The antibodies’

functionality was substantially higher after that fourth dose in battling

pneumococcal disease.