Immunosuppression after measles vaccination |
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Authors: | Lars Smedman Annalena Joki Augusto Paulo Jost da Silva Marita Troye-Blomberg Bernice Aronsson Peter Perlmann |
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Affiliation: | Department of Immunology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden;National Public Health Lahorarory, Bissau, Guinea-Bissau;Karolinska Institute, Department of Paedratrics, St Göran's Children's Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden |
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Abstract: | The influence of conventional live attenuated measles vaccine on cellular immune responsiveness was investigated in Sweden and Guinea-Bissau. Sixteen children in a residential area in Bissau and 16 living in southern Stockholm were examined before and 8–10 days after vaccination. Lymphoproliferation was measured to concanavalin A (con-A), PPD and tetanus toxoid (TT) using a whole-blood 3H-thymidine incorporation assay. Stimulation indices were significantly lower after vaccination than before, in the case of con-A ( p = 0.03) and TT ( p = 0.01) in the Guinean children and in the case of PPD ( p = 0.009) and TT ( p = 0.03) in the Swedish children. Stimulation of lymphocytes from measles-immune children with measles antigens resulted in weak lymphoproliferative responses. These observations may be relevant to the increased mortality found in children immunized with high-titre measles vaccines, as compared to controls, in recent studies. The study confirms the applicability and usefulness under field conditions of the whole blood version of the thymidine incorporation assay. |
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Keywords: | Cellular immunity immunosuppression measles |
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