title: Chronic helminth infections impair pneumococcal vaccine responses.
abstract: Pneumonia is the leading killer of children and disproportionately affects developing countries. Vaccination campaigns against Streptococcus pneumoniae, the leading cause of pneumonia, have recently been launched with a new conjugate vaccine in Africa. Using a mouse model, we assessed the potential role that the high burden of helminth infections in the countries targeted for vaccine might have on vaccine effectiveness. Mice vaccinated with either commercial conjugate or purified polysaccharide vaccines had impaired antibody responses if they were chronically infected with Taenia crassiceps. This translated to increased susceptibility to pneumococcal pneumonia and high mortality compared to helminth-negative vaccinated animals, which were fully protected from disease and death. Antibodies taken from Taenia-infected, vaccinated mice were unable to effectively opsonize S. pneumoniae for killing by alveolar macrophages, and did not protect against pneumococcal challenge when adoptively transferred into naïve animals. These data may have implications for vaccination programs in countries endemic with helminths.
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, 262 Danny Thomas Place, Memphis, TN 38105, USA.
authors.forename: Nopporn
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Apiwattanakul
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, 262 Danny Thomas Place, Memphis, TN 38105, USA.
authors.forename: Paul G
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, 262 Danny Thomas Place, Memphis, TN 38105, USA.
authors.forename: Amy R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Iverson
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, 262 Danny Thomas Place, Memphis, TN 38105, USA; Department of Pediatrics, University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center, 50 North Dunlap Street, Memphis, TN 38103, USA. Electronic address: jmccullers@uthsc.edu.
authors.forename: Jonathan A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: McCullers
mesh_terms: D019264:Adoptive Transfer; D000818:Animals; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000097:blood; D000918:Antibody Specificity; D003551:Cysticercosis / Q000150:complications; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005260:Female; D006373:Helminthiasis / Q000150:complications*; D016676:Macrophages, Alveolar / Q000166:cytology; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D010587:Phagocytosis; D022242:Pneumococcal Vaccines / Q000276:immunology*; D011018:Pneumonia, Pneumococcal / Q000517:prevention & control*; D013621:Taenia; D017211:Treatment Failure; D018074:Vaccines, Conjugate / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: C538862:13-valent pneumococcal vaccine; C414006:23-valent pneumococcal capsular polysaccharide vaccine; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial; D022242:Pneumococcal Vaccines; D018074:Vaccines, Conjugate
keywords: Helminths; Pneumococcal vaccine; Pneumonia; Pneumovax; Prevnar; Streptococcus pneumoniae