Oral cholera vaccination promotes homing of IgA+ memory B cells to the large intestine and the respiratory tract

Abstract

Oral cholera vaccination is used to induce immune responses in the intestines to protect against cholera infection. However, oral vaccination may also affect immune responses in other mucosal tissues. To study this, tissue-specific homing potential and kinetics of B-cell responses were characterized after oral cholera vaccination. Healthy adult volunteers received two doses of Dukoral® and blood, saliva, nasal wash, and fecal samples were collected over time to detect vaccine-specific antibodies. Additionally, homing potential of lymphocytes to small intestine, colon, airways, skin, and periphery was measured by expression of Integrin β1 and β7, CCR9, CCR10, CCR7, and CLA. After vaccination, antibody responses to cholera toxin B (CTB) and Dukoral® were detected in serum and nasal wash. CTB-specific memory B cells in peripheral blood and tissue homing profiles of memory B cells peaked at day 18. IgA⁺ memory B cells expressed markers that enable homing to the airways and colon, while IgA^- memory B cells primarily expressed small-intestine-homing markers. These data show that oral cholera vaccination has a differential effect on immune responses in various mucosal sites, including the respiratory tract.