Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine given shortly after birth stimulates effective antibody concentrations and primes immunological memory for sustained infant protection

Background.In developing countries, newborn immunization with pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCVs) could protect young infants who are at high risk of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) but might lead to immune tolerance.Methods.In a randomized trial, young infants received 7-valent PCV at 6, 10, and 14 weeks (Expanded Programme on Immunization [EPI] group) or 0, 10, and 14 weeks (newborn group). Safety was monitored actively at 2-7 days and then passively. Serum samples obtained at birth and 6, 10, 14, 18, 36, and 37 weeks were assayed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for anticapsular immunoglobulin G concentration and avidity. Infants were boosted with either 7-valent PCV or one-fifth dose of pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine at 36 weeks. Nasopharyngeal swab samples were obtained at 18 and 36 weeks.Results.Three-hundred neonates and young infants were enrolled. Newborn vaccination was well tolerated. Adverse events occurred equally in each group; none was related to immunization. One infant, immunized at birth, died of unrelated neonatal sepsis. At 18 weeks, protective concentrations (≥0.35 μg/mL) were achieved against each serotype by ≥87% of infants with no significant differences between groups. Geometric mean concentrations were higher in the EPI group for serotypes 4, 9V, 18C, and 19F at 18 weeks and for serotype 4 at 36 weeks. Avidity was greater in the newborn group for serotypes 4, 6B, and 19F at 18 weeks and for serotype 19F at 36 weeks. Booster responses and vaccine-type/nonvaccine-type carriage prevalence did not differ between groups.Conclusions.PCV was safe, immunogenic, and primed for memory when given at birth. There was no evidence of immune tolerance. Vaccination beginning at birth offers an alternative to control IPD in vulnerable young infants. The Author 2011. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email:[email protected] is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.5/), which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © 2011 The Author. This open-label randomized schedule trial took place at Kilifi District Hospital among residents of the Kilifi Health and Demographic Surveillance System (KHDSS) area, a rural population of 240 000 on the coast of Kenya [11]. Women attending antenatal clinic in their last trimester who had negative results on an HIV test were encouraged to enroll their children at birth. Neonates delivered at Kilifi District Hospital were enrolled within 24 hours of birth; those born at home were included up to 72 hours following delivery. Exclusion criteria were as follows: temporary residence in the KHDSS area; participation in another trial; suspected immune deficiency; congenital abnormality; sickness requiring hospitalization; birth weight <2500 g; heart rate >150 or <100/minute; respiratory rate >60 or <35/minute; axilla temperature of >37.5° or <35.5°C. The birth weight threshold excluded 20% of all newborns and was therefore reduced to 2000 g after 199 babies had been recruited. Participants were divided evenly into 8 groups on 3 criteria in a factorial design: Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) vaccine schedule, compared with newborn schedule; additional blood sampling at 10 weeks, compared with 14 weeks; and pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPV), compared with PCV booster. Three hundred allocations were designated at the outset, and each participant was assigned a group at enrolment by automatic computer application of a random number to all residual allocations. The EPI group received 7vPCV at 6, 10, and 14 weeks of age. The newborn group received 7vPCV at 0, 10, and 14 weeks of age. All neonates were given BCG and oral polio vaccine at birth and pentavalent vaccine (diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis/hepatitis B/Hib) and oral polio vaccine at 6, 10, and 14 weeks according to the EPI schedule. At 36 weeks of age, each infant received a booster of either 7vPCV or a 20% fractional dose (0.1 mL) of 23-valent PPV concomitantly with measles vaccine. Cord blood samples were obtained, and venous samples were collected at 18, 36, and 37 weeks and at either 10 or 14 weeks of age. Blood samples were obtained from EPI group infants at 6 weeks. Nasopharyngeal swab samples were obtained at 18 and 36 weeks of age. Written informed consent was obtained from each mother, and the study was approved by the Kenya Medical Research Institute and WHO (Sub-Committee for Research Involving Human Subjects) Ethical Review Committees. The 7vPCV vaccine was Prevnar (Wyeth Vaccines), containing 2 μg of capsular polysaccharides of serotypes 4, 9V, 14, 18C, 19F, and 23F and 4 μg of serotype 6B conjugated to 0.5 mg of the carrier protein CRM197 adsorbed on aluminum phosphate. The PPV was a 23-valent unconjugated pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (Pneumovax; Sanofi Pasteur) containing 25 μg of each polysaccharide. Vaccines were donated by Wyeth Vaccines. Infants were monitored clinically for 30 minutes after the first dose of 7vPCV and were reassessed by the study doctor after 7 days (after 2 days for the first 54 infants). Standard vaccine-related symptoms and signs were elicited and recorded. Parents were given 24-hour access to the pediatric research clinic and advised to return at any time during the first 37 weeks of life with any potential adverse reaction. At each illness visit, the attending physician completed an adverse event form and designated the illness as an illness unrelated to immunization, a minor adverse event, or a severe adverse event—an illness severe enough to require hospital admission. All severe adverse events were reviewed by the investigators and the Data Safety and Monitoring Board to evaluate their relationship to vaccine. The KHDSS was used to follow long-term mortality up to July 2009. Blood samples were refrigerated and transported within 6 hours to the laboratory, where the serum was separated and stored at −80°C. Serum samples were assayed for immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies to 7 individual capsular polysaccharides in the WHO reference laboratory for pneumococcal serology at University College London Institute of Child Health using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) following adsorption with cell wall polysaccharide and 22F polysaccharide, as described previously [12, 13]. Avidity for antibody to serotypes 4, 6B, 14, and 19F was measured by modification of an assay developed for anti-Hib avidity by incorporating an ammonium thiocyanate elution step into the pneumococcal ELISA [14]. Nasopharyngeal samples were collected using rayon-tipped flexible wire swabs and stored in skimmed milk–tryptone–glucose–glycerol medium and inoculated the same day onto gentamicin (2.5 μg/mL) blood agar [15]. The presence of pneumococci was confirmed by means of optochin susceptibility. Up to 4 morphologically distinct colonies were serotyped, per swab, by quelling reaction [16]. All laboratory scientists were blind to the vaccine schedule and booster group allocations. Geometric mean concentrations (GMCs) and 95% confidence intervals were calculated for pneumococcal serotype-specific antibodies in each vaccine schedule group. Differences in means of log-transformed concentrations were analyzed by Welch test at 18 and 36 weeks. This approach was repeated with antibody avidity. For each serological analysis, results from all available serum samples (or serum pairs) were included. The proportion of samples at or above the putative protective threshold, 0.35 μg/mL [17], in each vaccine group was tested using χ2. Secondary analyses were performed at the higher threshold of 1.00 μg/mL. Analysis of variance was performed for the vaccine group and booster group at 36 weeks on log-transformed ratios of the 37/36-week concentrations. The inhibitory effect of maternal antibodies, specified as quintiles of cord blood concentration, was examined by analysis of variance of the 18-week GMCs. Linear regression of the serotype-specific GMCs across quintiles was fitted using variance-weighted least squares (VWLS) to account for within-quintile variance. To estimate the immediate protective effect of newborn vaccine, we assumed that vaccine-induced antibody in the newborn group declined at a constant rate that could be estimated from the decline of maternally derived antibody in the EPI group between 0 and 6 weeks of age. By applying this rate to the cord blood concentrations in the newborn group, we estimated the mean ratio increase attributable to a birth dose by referencing the observed concentrations at 10 weeks; to estimate 95% confidence intervals, we incorporated the sum of the standard errors of the mean concentrations at birth and 10 weeks and of the mean decay rate. Children were classified as vaccine-serotype carriers if pneumococci of serotypes 4, 6B, 9V, 14, 18C, 19F, or 23F were isolated. Children with other serotypes were classified as nonvaccine-serotype carriers. Carriers of multiple serotypes could be included in each group. The primary endpoints were the associations between vaccine group and vaccine-serotype carriage at 18 weeks, and between vaccine group and nonvaccine-serotype carriage at 36 weeks. The study sample size was chosen to detect, with 90% power, a 12% difference in vaccine-serotype carriage at 18 weeks against a baseline of 16%. This sample size also provided >90% power to observe a difference of ≥30% in the GMC of antibody concentrations in the 2 schedule groups. An interim analysis of antibody concentrations was performed on 18-week serum samples for the first 30 vaccinees, to screen for immune tolerance. The International Standard Randomized Controlled Trial Number was 52829313.