POLIOVIRUS-SPECIFIC IMMUNOGLOBULIN-A IN PERSONS VACCINATED WITH INACTIVATED POLIOVIRUS VACCINE IN THE NETHERLANDS

In The Netherlands the inactivated poliovirus vaccine (IPV) is used fo r protection against poliomyelitis, It is not clear if parenteral vacc ination with IPV can lead to priming of the mucosal immune system, We developed and evaluated enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays for the det ection of poliovirus serotype-specific immunoglobulin A (IgA) and secr etory IgA antibodies, Using these assays we examined the kinetics of t he IgA response in sequential serum samples from 15 poliomyelitis pati ents after natural infection with serotype 3 poliovirus, In 36% of the patients IgA remained present for up to 5 months postinfection, Furth ermore, we examined, in an IPV-vaccinated population, the presence of IgA antibodies in sera from young children (4 to 12 years of age; n = 177), sera from older children (between 13 and 15 years of age; n = 12 3), sera from healthy blood donors (n = 66), and sera from naturally i mmune elderly persons (n = 54), The seroprevalence of IgA to all three serotypes was low in young vaccinated children (5 to 7%), and the ser oprevalence of IgA types 2 and 3 was low in older vaccinated children (2 to 3%), The seroprevalence of antibodies to type 1 was significantl y higher (18%) in older children than in younger children, This higher seroprevalence is most likely explained by the persistence of IgA fol lowing infection with the serotype 1 wild-type poliovirus strain durin g the 1978 epidemic, In healthy adults, the seroprevalence of type 1- and type 2-specific IgA was significantly higher than that in young ch ildren, These results suggest that at least part of the IgA found in t he older population is induced by infections unrelated to the IPV vacc ination schedule, Finally, we found that parenteral vaccination with I PV was able to boost secretory IgA responses in 74 to 87% of a natural ly exposed elderly population (n = 54), While the presence of secretor y IgA in IPV-vaccinated persons has been documented previously, our fi ndings suggest that mucosal priming with live virus is necessary to ob tain an IgA response after IPV booster vaccination.