Reduced doses of oral killed enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli plus cholera toxin B subunit vaccine is safe and immunogenic in Bangladeshi infants 6-17 months of age: dosing studies in different age groups.
The oral-formalin inactivated whole cell enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) vaccine needs to be further tested in developing countries in order to determine the dose at which it will be safe and immunogenic for infants who are the target population for the vaccine. To determine the immunogenicity of reduced doses, studies were first carried out in children, 2-12 years of age (n = 60). The full, half or a quarter doses of the vaccine were comparable in immunogenicity with similar frequency of responses seen to the different antigens (P = NS). Following this result, a pilot study carried out in infants, 6-17 months of age (n = 50), showed that the frequency of episodes of vomiting was lowest when a quarter of the full dose was used. The infants however showed comparable immune responses to the half and quarter dose of vaccine that was tested (P = NS). Based on these results in the infants, a randomized double blind placebo-controlled Phase II study was carried out in 158 children, 6-17 months of age, where a quarter dose of the ETEC vaccine was tested. Adverse events of mild vomiting were seen in only 4% of vaccinees and in 2.5% of placebo recipients. The IgA-antibody secreting cell (ASC) responses to CFA/I (GM: 28.1 ASC/10(7) PBMC) and BS (GM: 55.7 ASC/10(7) PBMC) were elevated compared to placebo recipients (CFA/I-2.0; BS-4.8 ASC/10(7) PBMC) (P = 0.01 to < 0.001). The plasma-IgA antibody titers in vaccinees were also significantly elevated to CFA/I (GM-93.00), CS1 (GM-62.0), CS2 (GM-55.0), CS4 (GM-66.0) and BS (1057.0) compared to preimmune levels or responses or levels in placebo recipients (P < or = 0.05-0.001). This study thus demonstrates that reduced doses of the ETEC vaccine is immunogenic in children and infants as well as safe in infants down to 6 months of age.
Qadri
Firdausi
F
International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh, GPO Box 128, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh. fqadri@icddrb.org
Ahmed
Tanvir
T
Ahmed
Firoz
F
Begum
Yasmin Ara
YA
Sack
David A
DA
Svennerholm
Ann-Mari
AM
D000284:Administration, Oral; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000097:blood; D002772:Cholera Toxin / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D004306:Dose-Response Relationship, Immunologic; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D022361:Escherichia coli Vaccines / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D010865:Pilot Projects; D014613:Vaccines, Attenuated / Q000276:immunology
D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial; D022361:Escherichia coli Vaccines; D014613:Vaccines, Attenuated; D002772:Cholera Toxin