Ty. Lin et Bl. Chiang, SPECIFIC IMMUNE-RESPONSE IN ADULT MEDICAL PERSONNEL IMMUNIZED WITH ACELLULAR PERTUSSIS-VACCINE WITH SPECIAL EMPHASIS ON T-HELPER CELL RESPONSE, Vaccine, 15(17-18), 1997, pp. 1917-1921
Recent epidemiologic data have indicated that adults are the most impo
rtant reservoir that transmit pertussis to children, However; conventi
onal whole cell pertussis vaccine is contraindicated in adults and chi
ldren over 7 years of age because of the unacceptably high rate of adv
erse reactions, The aim of this study is to evaluate the specific cell
ular immune responses and adverse reactions to a less reactogenic acel
lular pertussis vaccine in adult volunteers, Eighty healthy medical pe
rsonnel in Chang Gung Children's Hospital were enrolled, Volunteers in
each group received: (I) Td+full strength acellular pertussis vaccine
(PI; I mu g/0.5 mi; FHA, 4 mu g/0.5 mi); (2) Td+half strength acellul
ar per-tussis vaccine, (3) Td alone. Lymphocyte phenotypic analysis, a
ntigen-specific antibody titers, antigen-specific proliferative respon
se and cytokine levels were evaluated before and I month after vaccina
tion, Our data revealed: (I) the adverse reactions were minimal; (2) p
henotypic analysis showed no non-specific activation of helper T or me
mory T cell after vaccination; (3) both PT and FHA-specific antibody t
iters increased significantly after vaccination; (4) PT antigens had a
mitogenic effect on cord blood mononuclear cells and peripheral blood
mononuclear cells of the adult volunteers; (5) FHA-specific T cell pr
oliferative responses significantly increased after vaccination; (6) t
he cytokine production pattern showed predominant activation of Th 1 c
ells as reflected in increased production of gamma-IFN after vaccinati
on, Acellular pertussis vaccine can effectively induce both humoral an
d cellular immune response in adults. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.