Production and Degradation of Serogroup B Neisseria meningitidis Polysaccharide |
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| Authors: | Peter C. Maloney Herman Schneider Brenda L. Brandt |
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| Affiliation: | 1.Departments of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville, Virginia 22901 |
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| Abstract: | The antigenicity of experimental Mycoplasma pneumoniae vaccines prepared from antigen grown in a medium buffered with N-2-hydroxyethylpiperazine-N′-2′-ethanesulfonic acid was tested in young, adult males. Formalin-inactivated antigens from a high-passage strain and a low-passage strain at various dilutions (12 to 123 μg of N/ml) were injected intramuscularly in 1-ml doses. Antibody responses were tested by the metabolic inhibition (MI) technique. Sixty-five to 86% of the volunteers in all vaccine groups responded with fourfold or greater MI antibody rises, but only nine (39%) of 23 antibody-free subjects converted compared to 53 (88%) of 60 of those with pre-existing antibody. A booster vaccination did not increase the number of converters or enhance the geometric mean titers. The antigen concentrations of vaccines with 24 or more μg of N/ml appeared to be above the threshold needed for maximal antibody responses in the dose range tested. MI antibody rises could not be detected in sputa and nasal washings obtained from a small group of vaccinees. The results of this study suggest that the new vaccines offer little or no improvement in antigenicity in man over earlier inactivated vaccines. |
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