title: Effect of sequence variation in meningococcal PorA outer membrane protein on the effectiveness of a hexavalent PorA outer membrane vesicle vaccine in toddlers and school children.
abstract: Though meningococcal conjugate vaccines are effective against serogroup C, there is currently no vaccine solution for serogroup B disease. PorA outer membrane protein (OMP) is a potential serogroup B vaccine candidate. A hexavalent PorA outer membrane vesicle (OMV) vaccine has been evaluated in phase I and II trials with promising results. However, considerable sequence variation occurs in the variable regions (VRs) encoding these serosubtypes. By using five wild type P1.19,15 variant strains we examined the serum bactericidal antibody (SBA) titres from sera collected from toddlers and school children pre- and post-vaccination. The numbers of subjects with SBA titres of <4, 4 and > or = 8 varied greatly between the different strains. This was also reflected when > or = 4-fold rises in SBA titres were examined. This finding in sera from toddlers and school children may have implications for PorA based vaccines.
authors.affiliation: Vaccine Evaluation Department, Health Protection Agency North West, Manchester Laboratory, Manchester Medical Microbiology Partnership, Manchester Royal Infirmary, Manchester, M13 9WZ, UK. jamie.findlow@hpa.org.uk
authors.forename: Jamie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Findlow
authors.forename: Ann
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lowe
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Deane
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Balmer
authors.forename: Germie
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: van den Dobbelsteen
authors.forename: Maureen
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dawson
authors.forename: Nick
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Andrews
authors.forename: Ray
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Borrow
mesh_terms: D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis / Q000096:biosynthesis; D000918:Antibody Specificity; D001483:Base Sequence; D001770:Blood Bactericidal Activity; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003429:Cross Reactions; D006801:Humans; D022401:Meningococcal Vaccines / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology*; D009426:Netherlands; D010641:Phenotype; D018272:Porins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology*; D018074:Vaccines, Conjugate / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial; D022401:Meningococcal Vaccines; D018272:Porins; D018074:Vaccines, Conjugate; C057699:porin protein, Neisseria