Immunogenicity of Varicella Vaccine and Immunologic Predictors of Response in a Cohort of Elderly Nursing Home Residents

Background. Little is known about the immunogenicity of live-attenuated Oka/Merck varicella zoster virus (VZV)–containing vaccine (hereafter, "varicella vaccine") in frail nursing homes residents nor about immune phenotypes associated with a response. Methods. A cohort of 190 frail nursing...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of infectious diseases 2016-12, Vol.214 (12), p.1905-1910
Main Authors: Lelic, Alina, Verschoor, Chris P., Lau, Vivian W. C., Parsons, Robin, Evelegh, Carole, Bowdish, Dawn M., Bramson, Jonathan L., Loeb, Mark B.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aged, 80 and over
Chickenpox Vaccine - administration & dosage
Chickenpox Vaccine - immunology
Cohort Studies
Enzyme-Linked Immunospot Assay
Female
Humans
Interferon-gamma - secretion
Leukocytes, Mononuclear - immunology
Male
Nursing Homes
VIRUSES
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Summary:Background. Little is known about the immunogenicity of live-attenuated Oka/Merck varicella zoster virus (VZV)–containing vaccine (hereafter, "varicella vaccine") in frail nursing homes residents nor about immune phenotypes associated with a response. Methods. A cohort of 190 frail nursing home residents aged 80–102 years and a cohort of 50 community-dwelling seniors aged 60–75 years (a comparison group) received varicella vaccine. Interferon γ (IFN-γ) enzyme-linked immunospot assays were performed before and 6 weeks after vaccination. Cellular markers of immunosenescence were measured in the nursing home elderly. Results. The average number of IFN-γ spot-forming cells at baseline was significantly lower in the elderly nursing home residents than in the community-dwelling seniors. However, following vaccination, the VZV immune response increased in both cohorts, and no difference was noted in the fold difference of the response between the 2 cohorts. Upon further examination of the elderly nursing home residents, we found that higher frequencies of regulatory T cells and cytomegalovirus-specific CD4⁺ T cells correlated negatively with the magnitude of VZV-specific responses. Conclusions. The Oka/Merck varicella vaccine induces VZV immunity in elderly nursing home residents that is similar to that produced in community-dwelling seniors. Clinical Trials Registration. NCT01328548.
ISSN:0022-1899
1537-6613
DOI:10.1093/infdis/jiw462