H. Ahman et al., Dose dependency of antibody response in infants and children to pneumococcal polysaccharides conjugated to tetanus toxoid, VACCINE, 17(20-21), 1999, pp. 2726-2732
Three injections of tetravalent pneumococcal polysaccharide-tetanus toroid
conjugate vaccine (PncT) were given to infants at 2, 4 and 6 months of age
simultaneously with diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis and Haemophilus influenzae
type b tetanus toroid conjugate vaccines. Three doses (1, 3 or 10 mu g) of
polysaccharides were used. Children were boosted with unconjugated polysac
charide vaccine at 14 months of age. No dose dependency was seen after prim
ary immunization. however, booster response to three vaccine serotypes was
highest in the group primed with the lowest dose of conjugate vaccine. As t
he magnitude of the response to booster may be related to the number of pol
ysaccharide-specific memory B cells, we hypothesize that the 10 mu g dose o
f the tetravalent conjugate vaccine is too high for optimal induction of im
munologic memory. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.