Systemic allergic reactions to gelatin included in vaccines as a stabilizer.
Most of the children who showed systemic immediate-type reactions, including anaphylactic shock, to measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella vaccines had IgE antibodies to gelatin; thus we suspected that the allergic symptoms are caused by gelatin antigen, which is usually included in these live-virus vaccines as a stabilizer. We hypothesized that the anti-gelatin IgE is elicited by immunization with DTaP (diphtheria-tetanus-acellular pertussis) vaccines, which contained a small amount of gelatin as a spillover protein after purification of pertussis toxin. To test this hypothesis, we conducted a case-control study to determine whether children with anti-gelatin IgE had received gelatin-containing DTaP vaccines, and it was indeed found that all such children in the study had immunization histories that included the gelatin-containing DTaP vaccines. Based on these findings, the vaccine manufacturers had removed gelatin from all the DTaP and live-virus vaccines produced in Japan by 2000.
Sakaguchi
M
M
Department of Immunology, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Tokyo 162-8640, Japan. msakaguc@nih.go.jp
Inouye
S
S
D019433:Chickenpox Vaccine / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000276:immunology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D022681:Diphtheria-Tetanus-acellular Pertussis Vaccines / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000276:immunology; D004342:Drug Hypersensitivity / Q000209:etiology* / Q000276:immunology; D005079:Excipients / Q000009:adverse effects; D005780:Gelatin / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D006969:Hypersensitivity, Immediate / Q000209:etiology / Q000276:immunology; D022542:Measles-Mumps-Rubella Vaccine / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000276:immunology
D019433:Chickenpox Vaccine; D022681:Diphtheria-Tetanus-acellular Pertussis Vaccines; D005079:Excipients; D022542:Measles-Mumps-Rubella Vaccine; D005780:Gelatin