title: Mechanisms by which maternal antibodies influence infant vaccine responses: review of hypotheses and definition of main determinants.
abstract: Several mechanisms have been suggested as mediating the inhibitory influence of maternal antibodies (MatAb) on infant responses. This inhibition is B cell determinant-specific, depends on the ratio between MatAb titers at the time of immunization and the dose of vaccine antigen, and leaves infant T cell responses largely unaffected. Neutralization of vaccine replication or FcgammaRIIB-mediated inhibitory signalling to infant B cells would not account for these characteristics. In contrast, determinant-specific masking of B cell epitopes and APC uptake of MatAb:vaccine antigen immune complexes, followed by antigen processing and presentation, explain the pattern of pre-clinical and clinical responses to infant vaccines. This allows the definition of the main determinants of the influence of MatAb on infant immunity.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Pathology and Pediatrics, Centre for Vaccinology and Neonatal Immunology, University of Geneva, CMU, 1 rue Michel-Servet, 1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland. claire-anne.siegrist@medecine.unige.ch
authors.forename: Claire Anne
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Siegrist
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000906:Antibodies / Q000276:immunology* / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007109:Immunity / Q000502:physiology*; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D014612:Vaccines / Q000276:immunology*; D014765:Viral Vaccines / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D000906:Antibodies; D014612:Vaccines; D014765:Viral Vaccines