Correlations among measles virus-specific antibody, lymphoproliferation and Th1/Th2 cytokine responses following measles-mumps-rubella-II (MMR-II) vaccination.
Immunity to measles is conferred by the interplay of humoral and cellular immune responses, the latter being critical in maintaining long-term recall response. Therefore, it is important to evaluate measles-specific humoral and cellular immunity in populations several years after vaccination and understand the correlations among these measures of immunity. We examined measles-specific antibodies, lymphoproliferation and the Th1/Th2 signature cytokines, interferon (IFN)-gamma and interleukin (IL)-4, in a population-based cohort of healthy children from Olmsted County, Minnesota after two doses of measles-mumps-rubella-II (MMR-II) vaccine. We detected positive measures of measles-specific cellular and humoral immunity in the majority of our study population. However, a small proportion of subjects demonstrated an immune response skewed towards the Th2 type, characterized by the presence of either IL-4 and/or measles-specific antibodies and a lack of IFN-gamma production. Further, we observed a significant positive correlation between lymphoproliferation and secretion of IFN-gamma (r = 0.20, P = 0.0002) and IL-4 (r = 0.15, P = 0.005). Measles antibody levels were correlated with lymphoproliferation (r = 0.12, P = 0.03), but lacked correlation to either cytokine type. In conclusion, we demonstrated the presence of both long-term cellular and humoral responses after MMR-II vaccination in a significant proportion of study subjects. Further, a positive correlation between lymphoproliferation and IL-4 and IFN-gamma suggests that immunity to measles may be maintained by both Th1 and Th2 cells. We speculate that the Th2 biased response observed in a subset of our subjects may be insufficient to provide long-term immunity against measles. Further examination of the determinants of Th1 versus Th2 skewing of the immune response and long-term follow-up is needed.
Dhiman
N
N
Mayo Vaccine Research Group, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester, MN 55905, USA.
Ovsyannikova
I G
IG
Ryan
J E
JE
Jacobson
R M
RM
Vierkant
R A
RA
Pankratz
V S
VS
Jacobsen
S J
SJ
Poland
G A
GA
D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000276:immunology*; D000918:Antibody Specificity / Q000276:immunology; D002648:Child; D016207:Cytokines / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007111:Immunity, Cellular / Q000276:immunology; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000032:analysis; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000276:immunology; D015847:Interleukin-4 / Q000276:immunology; D008297:Male; D008459:Measles virus / Q000276:immunology*; D022542:Measles-Mumps-Rubella Vaccine / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000276:immunology*; D006377:T-Lymphocytes, Helper-Inducer / Q000276:immunology*; D018417:Th1 Cells / Q000276:immunology; D018418:Th2 Cells / Q000276:immunology
D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D016207:Cytokines; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D022542:Measles-Mumps-Rubella Vaccine; D015847:Interleukin-4; D007371:Interferon-gamma