Multidisciplinary study of the secondary immune response in grandparents re-exposed to chickenpox

Re-exposure to chickenpox may boost varicella-zoster virus (VZV) immunity in the elderly. This secondary immune response is hypothesized to confer protection against herpes zoster. We longitudinally sampled 36 adults over the course of one year after re-exposure to chickenpox. The resulting 183 samp...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific reports 2017-04, Vol.7 (1), p.1077-11, Article 1077
Main Authors: Ogunjimi, B., Van den Bergh, J., Meysman, P., Heynderickx, S., Bergs, K., Jansens, H., Leuridan, E., Vorsters, A., Goossens, H., Laukens, K., Cools, N., Van Tendeloo, Viggo, Hens, N., Van Damme, P., Smits, Evelien, Beutels, Ph
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
13/1
13/31
631/326/596/2562
692/308/174
Antibodies, Viral - blood
CD4 antigen
CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes - immunology
Chickenpox - immunology
Cytomegalovirus
Cytomegalovirus - immunology
Geriatrics
Grandparents
Herpes zoster
Herpesvirus 3, Human - immunology
Humanities and Social Sciences
Immune response
Immunoglobulin G
Immunoglobulin G - blood
Interferon
Interleukin 2
Longitudinal Studies
Lymphocytes T
multidisciplinary
Multidisciplinary research
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Time Factors
Vaccines
Varicella
γ-Interferon
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Re-exposure to chickenpox may boost varicella-zoster virus (VZV) immunity in the elderly. This secondary immune response is hypothesized to confer protection against herpes zoster. We longitudinally sampled 36 adults over the course of one year after re-exposure to chickenpox. The resulting 183 samples and those of 14 controls were assessed for VZV-specific T-cell immunity and antibody titres. The percentages of VZV-specific CD4+ IL-2-producing T-cells were increased in re-exposed grandparents compared to control participants up to 9 months after re-exposure. Using a longitudinal mixture modelling approach, we found that 25% and 17% of re-exposed grandparents showed a boosting of VZV-specific CD4+ IL-2-producing T-cells and VZV-specific antibodies, respectively. The antibody boosting occurred exclusively in cytomegalovirus (CMV) IgG-positive participants. CMV IgG-positive participants also had higher VZV IE62-specific CD4+ IFN-γ-producing T-cell percentages and VZV-specific antibody titres. The protective effect of re-exposure to chickenpox is likely limited, as boosting only occurred in 17–25% of the VZV re-exposed grandparents and for less than one year.
ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/s41598-017-01024-8