title: Temporal development of the humoral immune response to surface antigens of Moraxella catarrhalis in young infants.
abstract: The primary Moraxella catarrhalis-specific humoral immune response, and its association with nasopharyngeal colonization, was studied in a cohort of infants from birth to 2 years of age. Results indicated that the levels of antigen-specific IgG, IgA and IgM showed extensive inter-individual variability over time, with IgM and IgA levels to all 9 recombinant domains, from 7 different OMPs, being relatively low throughout the study period. In contrast, the level of antigen-specific IgG was significantly higher for the recombinant domains Hag³⁵⁸⁻⁸⁵³, MID⁷⁶⁴⁻⁹¹³, MID⁹⁶²⁻¹²⁰⁰, UspA1⁵⁵⁷⁻⁷⁰⁴ and UspA2¹⁶⁵⁻³¹⁸ in cord blood compared to 6 months of age (P ≤ 0.001). This was a most likely a consequence of maternal transmission of antigen-specific IgG to newborn babies, possibly indicating a future role for these 3 surface antigens in the development of an effective humoral immune response to M. catarrhalis. Finally, at 2 years of age, the levels of antigen-specific IgG still remained far below that obtained from cord blood samples, indicating that the immune response to M. catarrhalis has not matured at 2 years of age. We provide evidence that a humoral antibody response to OMPs UspA1, UspA2 and Hag/MID may play a role in the immune response to community acquired M. catarrhalis colonization events.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Erasmus MC, 's Gravendijkwal 230, 3015 CE Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Suzanne J C
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Verhaegh
authors.forename: Corné P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: de Vogel
authors.forename: Kristian
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Riesbeck
authors.forename: Eric R
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Lafontaine
authors.forename: Timothy F
authors.initials: TF
authors.lastname: Murphy
authors.forename: Henri A
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Verbrugh
authors.forename: Vincent W V
authors.initials: VW
authors.lastname: Jaddoe
authors.forename: Albert
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hofman
authors.forename: Henriëtte A
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Moll
authors.forename: Alex
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: van Belkum
authors.forename: John P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Hays
mesh_terms: D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology; D000954:Antigens, Surface / Q000276:immunology; D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins / Q000276:immunology*; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D005312:Fetal Blood / Q000276:immunology; D005838:Genotype; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000517:prevention & control; D006801:Humans; D056724:Immunity, Humoral; D007070:Immunoglobulin A / Q000097:blood; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000097:blood; D007075:Immunoglobulin M / Q000097:blood; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008431:Maternal-Fetal Exchange / Q000276:immunology; D001936:Moraxella catarrhalis / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D009305:Nasopharynx / Q000276:immunology / Q000382:microbiology; D011247:Pregnancy
chemical_list: D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D000954:Antigens, Surface; D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; C464644:Hag-1 protein, Moraxella catarrhalis; D007070:Immunoglobulin A; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D007075:Immunoglobulin M; C089675:UspA protein, Moraxella catarrhalis