Paper on quality of antibody response and control of pneumococcal colonisation published in Vaccine

Congratulations to former MPRU postdoctoral research Asia-Sophia Wolf and co-authors on their recent publication in Vaccine! PCV vaccination protects against invasive pneumococcal disease, but high residual vaccine type (VT) carriage prevalence persists in areas of high pneumococcal colonisation like Malawi. Asia investigated whether antibody quality is a determinant of protection against VT carriage.

Analyses of serological samples from experimental human pneumococcal challenge (EHPC) volunteers revealed that individuals that fail to be colonised with the Streptococcus pneumoniae 6B challenge strain have higher avidity IgG antibodies (high binding strength) compared to individuals who became colonised. Interestingly, neither IgG titre nor IgG avidity correlate with increased opsonophagocytic killing responses, suggesting a complex interplay between antibody-mediated immunity and protection against pneumococcal carriage. Please find the full report on the publisher’s site.