The effect of maternal antibodies on the cellular immune response after infant vaccination: A review

During the last few decades, maternal immunization as a strategy to protect young infants from infectious diseases has been increasingly recommended, yet some issues have emerged. Studies have shown that for several vaccines, such as live attenuated, toxoid and conjugated vaccines, high maternal antibody titers inhibit the infant’s humoral immune response after infant vaccination. However, it is not clear whether this decreased antibody titer has any clinical impact on the infant’s protection, as the cellular immune responses are often equally important in providing disease protection and may therefore compensate for diminished antibody levels. Reports describing the effect of maternal antibodies on the cellular immune response after infant vaccination are scarce, probably because such studies are expensive, labor intensive and utilize poorly standardized laboratory techniques. Therefore, this review aims to shed light on what is currently known about the cellular immune responses after infant vaccination in the presence of high (maternal) antibody titers both in animal and human studies. Overall, the findings suggest that maternally derived antibodies do not interfere with the cellular immune responses after infant vaccination. However, more research in humans is clearly needed, as most data originate from animal studies.     

Risk factors for neurocognitive decline in lung cancer patients treated with prophylactic cranial irradiation: A systematic review

BackgroundProphylactic cranial irradiation (PCI) reduces brain metastasis incidence in lung cancer, however with risk of neurocognitive decline. Nevertheless, risk factors for neurocognitive decline after PCI remain unclear.MethodsWe systematically reviewed the PubMed database according to the PRISMA guideline. Inclusion criteria were: randomized clinical trials (RCTs) and observational/single arm trials evaluating PCI, including ≥20 patients, reporting neurocognitive test results for lung cancer. Primary aim: evaluate risk factors associated with neurocognitive decline after PCI.ResultsTwenty records were eligible (8 different RCTs, 8 observational studies), including 3553 patients in total (858 NSCLC, 2695 SCLC) of which 73.6% received PCI. Incidence of mild/moderate cognitive decline after PCI varied from 8 to 89% (grading not always provided); for those without PCI, this was 3.4–42%. Interestingly, 23–95% had baseline cognitive impairment. Risk factors were often not reported. In one trial, both age (>60 years) and higher PCI dose (36 Gy) including twice-daily PCI were associated with a higher risk of cognitive decline. In one trial, white matter abnormalities were more frequent in the concurrent or sandwiched PCI arm, but without significant neuropsychological differences. One trial identified hippocampal sparing PCI to limit the neurocognitive toxicities of PCI and another reported an association between hippocampal dose volume effects and memory decline. As neurocognition was a secondary endpoint in most RCTs, and was assessed by various instruments with often poor/moderate compliance, high-quality data is lacking.ConclusionsAge, PCI dose, regimen and timing might be associated with cognitive impairment after PCI in lung cancer patients, but high-quality data is lacking. Future PCI trials should collect and evaluate possible risk factors systematically.     

儿童呼吸道合胞病毒感染诊断、治疗和预防专家共识

呼吸道合胞病毒(respiratory syncytial virus,RSV)是世界范围内引起5岁以下儿童急性下呼吸道感染(acute lower respiratory tract infections,ALRTI)最重要的病毒病原[1]。RSV感染是造成婴幼儿病毒性呼吸道感染住院的首要因素,严重危害儿童健康,尤其对早产儿、患有先天性心脏病或原发免疫缺陷的婴幼儿造成的疾病更重。目前,尚无RSV疫苗及有效的抗病毒药物用于RSV的治疗,唯一可用于RSV预防的人源化特异性抗体帕利珠单抗(Palivizumab)尚未引进国内临床应用。临床上在RSV的流行、致病机制、诊断、治疗及预防等方面尚存在一些不足,为进一步规范儿童RSV感染的诊断、治疗及预防,以国内外RSV最新研究进展为参考,特制定此专家共识。