Dose dependency of antibody response in infants and children to pneumococcal polysaccharides conjugated to tetanus toxoid

Abstract

Three injections of tetravalent pneumococcal polysaccharide-tetanus toxoid 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 toxoid conjugate vaccines. Three doses (1, 3 or 10 microg) of polysaccharides were used. Children were boosted with unconjugated polysaccharide vaccine at 14 months of age. No dose dependency was seen after primary immunization. However, booster response to three vaccine serotypes was highest in the group primed with the lowest dose of conjugate vaccine. As the magnitude of the response to booster may be related to the number of polysaccharide-specific memory B cells, we hypothesize that the 10 microg dose of the tetravalent conjugate vaccine is too high for optimal induction of immunologic memory.