Mucosal IgG Levels Correlate Better with Respiratory Syncytial Virus Load and Inflammation than Plasma IgG Levels

Abstract

Maternal vaccination is currently considered a strategy against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infections. In RSV-infected infants, high mucosal IgG levels correlated better with reduced RSV load and lower mucosal CXCL10 levels than plasma IgG levels. For future vaccination strategies against RSV, more focus should be on the mucosal humoral immune response.

FIG 1

Mucosal IgG levels correlate better with respiratory syncytial virus load than plasma IgG levels. Mucosal and plasma samples were taken from RSV-infected infants. Viral load, mucosal and plasma IgG levels, and mucosal and plasma CXCL10 levels were determined. Correlation analyses were performed using a Pearson correlation test. GraphPad Prism 5.03 was used for statistics (GraphPad Software). P values of <0.05 were considered statistically significant. (A) Mucosal and plasma IgG levels were not correlated. (B) Viral load was negatively correlated with mucosal IgG levels but not with plasma IgG levels. (C) Viral load is positively correlated with CXCL10 levels in the nose but not in plasma. (D) Finally, mucosal CXCL10 levels were negatively correlated with mucosal IgG levels but not plasma IgG levels.