title: Epitope-specific immune responses to rotavirus vaccination.
abstract: Rotavirus gastroenteritis is a leading cause of infant mortality in developing countries and an important cause of morbidity in children under 2 yr of age in the United States. Vaccine programs have evaluated animal rotavirus strains that are attenuated in humans but antigenically similar to some human strains. Whether a single vaccine strain can elicit protective immunity in humans to rotaviruses of the same or different serotypes is an important question in determining vaccine efficacy. We used characterized serotype-specific monoclonal antibodies directed at VP7 in a competitive solid-phase immunoassay to measure epitope-specific immune responses to serotypes 1, 2, and 3 in sera of children who received a candidate serotype-3 rotavirus vaccine. Antibodies to serotype 3 were detected in 72% of sera samples, and to serotype 1 and 2 in only 11% each. Also, a VP3-specific monoclonal antibody which neutralizes three serotypically distinct strains of rotavirus was used to detect the presence of similar antibodies in 56% of the test sera. This finding suggests a mechanism of heterotypic immunity.
mesh_terms: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000276:immunology*; D000917:Antibody Formation; D000918:Antibody Specificity; D001667:Binding, Competitive; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D000939:Epitopes / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D012401:Rotavirus / Q000276:immunology*; D012400:Rotavirus Infections / Q000517:prevention & control*; D022243:Rotavirus Vaccines; D014611:Vaccination; D014613:Vaccines, Attenuated / Q000276:immunology*; D014765:Viral Vaccines / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D000939:Epitopes; C041165:RIT 4237 vaccine; D022243:Rotavirus Vaccines; D014613:Vaccines, Attenuated; D014765:Viral Vaccines