Response to conjugate pneumococcal and Haemophilus influenzae type b vaccines in asplenic patients

• Published in: Vaccine 2011-01, Vol.29 (4), p.675-680
• Main Authors: Meerveld-Eggink, A, de Weerdt, O, van Velzen-Blad, H, Biesma, D.H, Rijkers, G.T
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Allergy and Immunology; Antibodies, Bacterial - blood; Applied microbiology; Asplenia; Bacterial Capsules - immunology; Bacteriology; Biological and medical sciences; Confidence intervals; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Haemophilus influenzae; Haemophilus Vaccines - immunology; Heptavalent Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine; Hib vaccination; Humans; immune response; Immunization - methods; Immunization, Secondary - methods; Immunogenicity; Male; Meningitis; Microbiology; Middle Aged; Miscellaneous; Mortality; patients; Pneumococcal vaccination; Pneumococcal Vaccines - immunology; Proteins; quantitative analysis; serotypes; Streptococcus infections; Streptococcus pneumoniae; vaccination; Vaccines; Vaccines, antisera, therapeutical immunoglobulins and monoclonal antibodies (general aspects)
• ISSN: 0264-410X; 1873-2518
• DOI: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2010.11.034

We determined the immunogenicity of conjugated Haemophilus influenzae type b and pneumococcal vaccines by quantitative analysis of the antibody response in asplenic patients. To that end, we vaccinated 92 patients with a conjugated Hib vaccine and 54 received two doses of conjugated pneumococcal vaccine (PCV7), followed at six months by a plain polysaccharide pneumococcal vaccine (PPV23). Antibody concentrations were measured before and three weeks after vaccination. After one dose of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, 46% of the patients reached the antibody threshold of ≥1.0μg/mL for all 7 tested vaccine serotypes. This percentage rose to 54% after the second dose of PCV7 and did not increase further after PPV23. Over 90% of patients had antibody concentrations ≥1.0μg/mL for at least 5 out of the 7 conjugated pneumococcal serotypes after 2 doses of PCV7. For serotypes, included in the PPV23 vaccine only, 25% (PPS3)–100% (PPS19A) of the patients reached antibody concentrations ≥1.0μg/mL after one dose of PPV23. For Hib, 97% of the patients reached the threshold concentration of ≥1.0μg/mL after one dose of vaccine. It can be concluded that the majority of asplenic patients had a sufficient response to conjugated vaccines against Streptococcus pneumoniae and Hib, reflected by a ≥1.0μg/mL antibody response. Inclusion of conjugated pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccines might be of additional value in the vaccination schedule for asplenic patients because of their high immunogenicity.