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. 2021 Jun 20;9(6):677.
doi: 10.3390/vaccines9060677.

Evaluating Functional Immunity Following Encapsulated Bacterial Infection and Vaccination

Zheng Quan Toh  1   2 , Rachel A Higgins  1 , Nadia Mazarakis  1 , Elysia Abbott  1 , Jordan Nathanielsz  1 , Anne Balloch  1 , Kim Mulholland  1   2   3 , Paul V Licciardi  1   2
Affiliations

Evaluating Functional Immunity Following Encapsulated Bacterial Infection and Vaccination

Zheng Quan Toh et al. Vaccines (Basel). .

Abstract

Encapsulated bacteria such as Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae type b and Neisseria meningitidis cause significant morbidity and mortality in young children despite the availability of vaccines. Highly specific antibodies are the primary mechanism of protection against invasive disease. Robust and standardised assays that measure functional antibodies are also necessary for vaccine evaluation and allow for the accurate comparison of data between clinical studies. This mini review describes the current state of functional antibody assays and their importance in measuring protective immunity.

Keywords: assays; encapsulated bacteria; functional antibodies; opsonophagocytosis; serum bactericidal assays.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Theoretical concept of opsonophagocytic assays (OPA), serum bactericidal assay (SBA) and avidity assay. OPA: antigen-specific antibodies along with complement proteins opsonise encapsulated bacteria and facilitate uptake of the antibody-bacteria complex by phagocytes. SBA: antigen-specific antibodies recruit complement proteins that activate the complement cascade. This leads to the formation of the membrane attack complex (MAC) in the bacterial cell membrane, resulting in bacterial cell lysis. Avidity assay measures the strength of the antigen-antibody binding and is usually performed using a modified enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Chaotropic agents such as thiocyanate are incubated with serum to elute antibodies that bind weakly to the antigen.
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