Age Affects Quantity but Not Quality of Antibody Responses after Vaccination with an Inactivated Flavivirus Vaccine against Tick-Borne Encephalitis

Stiasny, Karin; Aberle, Judith H.; Keller, Michael; Grubeck-Loebenstein, Beatrix; Heinz, Franz X.

i

Age Affects Quantity but Not Quality of Antibody Responses after Vaccination with an Inactivated Flavivirus Vaccine against Tick-Borne Encephalitis

Supporting Files Public Domain

Mar 26 2012
By Stiasny, Karin ; Aberle, Judith H. ; Keller, Michael ; ...

File Language:

English

Details

Alternative Title:

PLoS One
Personal Author:

Stiasny, Karin ; Aberle, Judith H. ; Keller, Michael ; Grubeck-Loebenstein, Beatrix ; Heinz, Franz X.
Description:

The impairment of immune functions in the elderly (immunosenescence) results in post-vaccination antibody titers that are significantly lower than in young individuals. It is, however, a controversial question whether also the quality of antibodies declines with age. In this study, we have therefore investigated the age-dependence of functional characteristics of antibody responses induced by vaccination with an inactivated flavivirus vaccine against tick-borne encephalitis (TBE). For this purpose, we quantified TBE virus-specific IgG and neutralizing antibody titers in post-vaccination sera from groups of young and elderly healthy adults and determined antibody avidities and NT/ELISA titer ratios (functional activity). In contrast to the quantitative impairment of antibody production in the elderly, we found no age-related differences in the avidity and functional activity of antibodies induced by vaccination, which also appeared to be independent of the age at primary immunization. There was no correlation between antibody avidity and NT/ELISA ratios suggesting that additional factors affect the quality of polyclonal responses, independent of age. Our work indicates that healthy elderly people are able to produce antibodies in response to vaccination with similar avidity and functional activity as young individuals, albeit at lower titers.
Subjects:

Adult Aged Aged, 80 And Over Age Factors Antibodies, Viral Antibody Affinity Antibody Formation Encephalitis, Tick-Borne Encephalitis Viruses, Tick-Borne Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay Flavivirus Humans Immunoglobulin G Middle Aged Vaccination Vaccines, Inactivated Viral Vaccines
Source:

PLoS One. 2012; 7(3).
Document Type:

Journal Article
Volume:

7
Issue:

3
Collection(s):

CDC Public Access
Main Document Checksum:

urn:sha256:a805d9c7c9c0b50605ca9160b50ee1d1f00836dd6041928f9940cd380c0a3196
Download URL:

https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/8173/cdc_8173_DS1.pdf
File Type:

[PDF - 398.23 KB ]

File Language:

English

ON THIS PAGE

Details Supporting Files

CDC STACKS serves as an archival repository of CDC-published products including scientific findings, journal articles, guidelines, recommendations, or other public health information authored or co-authored by CDC or funded partners.

As a repository, CDC STACKS retains documents in their original published format to ensure public access to scientific information.