title: Booster vaccination in the elderly: their success depends on the vaccine type applied earlier in life as well as on pre-vaccination antibody titers.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Recent retrospective studies demonstrate that elderly persons have a shortened protection period following vaccination with recall antigens.
  
  
  METHODS
  We now analysed the effect of booster vaccination with a multivalent vaccine containing tetanus, dipththeria, pertussis and polio antigens in 252 healthy elderly persons. The magnitude of the humoral immune response was assessed by antibody measurements.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Comparison with a small control group of 21 younger persons demonstrates that pre- and post-vaccination antibody concentrations are lower in elderly persons for all antigens except polio, for which higher pre- and similar post-vaccination antibody levels are observed. Using multiple linear regression analysis we also show that the magnitude of the humoral immune response in elderly persons greatly depends on pre-vaccination antibody concentrations in the case of tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis, but much less so in the case of polio, against which priming and preceding booster immunizations were performed with attenuated live vaccine.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Regular booster vaccinations throughout life are of clinical importance to maintain the ability to respond to recall antigens in old age. Longer lasting protection and good responsiveness to boosting in spite of low antibody titres can be expected following exposure to live vaccine earlier in life.
authors.affiliation: Immunology Division, Institute for Biomedical Aging Research, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Innsbruck, Austria.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kaml
authors.forename: Ilka
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Weiskirchner
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Keller
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Luft
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hoster
authors.forename: Joerg
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hasford
authors.forename: Linda
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Young
authors.forename: Bill
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bartlett
authors.forename: Christoph
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Neuner
authors.forename: Karl-Heinz
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Fischer
authors.forename: Ber
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Neuman
authors.forename: Reinhard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Würzner
authors.forename: Beatrix
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Grubeck-Loebenstein
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged / Q000502:physiology*; D000906:Antibodies / Q000032:analysis*; D000917:Antibody Formation / Q000276:immunology; D015331:Cohort Studies; D015721:Diphtheria-Tetanus-Pertussis Vaccine / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007117:Immunization, Secondary; D008297:Male; D011054:Poliovirus Vaccine, Inactivated / Q000276:immunology; D012044:Regression Analysis; D014612:Vaccines / Q000276:immunology*; D018074:Vaccines, Conjugate / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D000906:Antibodies; D015721:Diphtheria-Tetanus-Pertussis Vaccine; D011054:Poliovirus Vaccine, Inactivated; D014612:Vaccines; D018074:Vaccines, Conjugate