Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Original Article
  • Published:

Blood stream infection is associated with altered heptavalent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine immune responses in very low birth weight infants

Abstract

OBJECTIVE:

Sepsis in older children and adults modifies immune system function. We compared serotype-specific antibody responses to heptavalent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7) in very low birth weight infants (<1500 g,VLBWs) with and without blood stream infection (BSI) during their birth hospitalization.

STUDY DESIGN:

Retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data for the Neonatal Research Network study of PCV7 responses among VLBWs. Infants received PCV7 at 2, 4 and 6 months after birth with blood drawn 4 to 6 weeks after third dose. Serotype antibodies were compared between infants with or without a history of BSI. Regression models were constructed with BW groups and other confounding factors identified in the primary study.

RESULT:

In all, 244 infants completed the vaccine series and had serum antibody available; 82 had BSI. After adjustment, BSI was not associated with reduced odds of serum antibody 0.35 μg ml−1.

CONCLUSION:

BSI was not associated with reduced odds of World Health Organization-defined protective PCV7 responses in VLBWs.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Siegrist CA, Aspinall R . B-cell responses to vaccination at the extremes of age. Nat Rev Immunol 2009; 9: 185–194.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. D’Angio CT . Active immunization of premature and low birth-weight infants: a review of immunogenicity, efficacy, and tolerability. Paediatr Drugs 2007; 9: 17–32.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Lewis D, Wilson C . Developmental Immunology and Role of Host Defenses in Fetal and Neonatal Susceptibility to Infection. In: Remington JS, Baker C, Klein JO, and Wilson CB (eds). ‘Infectious Diseases of the Fetus and Newborn Infant’ 6th edn. Elsevier Saunders: Philadelphia, 2006 pp 87–210.

    Google Scholar 

  4. D’Angio CT, Heyne RJ, O’Shea TM, Schelonka RL, Shankaran S, Duara S et al. Heptavalent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine immunogenicity in very-low-birth-weight, premature infants. Pediatr Infect Dis J 2010; 29: 600–606.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Wynn JL, Scumpia PO, Delano MJ, O’Malley KA, Ungaro R, Abouhamze A et al. Increased mortality and altered immunity in neonatal sepsis produced by generalized peritonitis. Shock 2007; 28: 675–683.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Toti P, De Felice C, Stumpo M, Schurfeld K, Di Leo L, Vatti R et al. Acute thymic involution in fetuses and neonates with chorioamnionitis. Hum Pathol 2000; 31: 1121–1128.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Toti P, De Felice C, Occhini R, Schuerfeld K, Stumpo M, Epistolato MC et al. Spleen depletion in neonatal sepsis and chorioamnionitis. Am J Clin Pathol 2004; 122: 765–771.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Hotchkiss RS, Karl IE . The pathophysiology and treatment of sepsis. N Engl J Med 2003; 348: 138–150.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Delano MJ, Scumpia PO, Weinstein JS, Coco D, Nagaraj S, Kelly-Scumpia KM et al. MyD88-dependent expansion of an immature GR-1(+)CD11b(+) population induces T cell suppression and Th2 polarization in sepsis. J Exp Med 2007; 204: 1463–1474.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Carson WF, Cavassani KA, Dou Y, Kunkel SL . Epigenetic regulation of immune cell functions during post-septic immunosuppression. Epigenetics 2011; 6: 273–283.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Wynn JL, Wong HR . Pathophysiology and treatment of septic shock in neonates. Clin Perinatol 2010; 37: 439–479.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Stoll BJ, Hansen N, Fanaroff AA, Wright LL, Carlo WA, Ehrenkranz RA et al. Late-onset sepsis in very low birth weight neonates: the experience of the NICHD Neonatal Research Network. Pediatrics 2002; 110: 285–291.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Stoll BJ, Hansen N, Fanaroff AA, Wright LL, Carlo WA, Ehrenkranz RA et al. Changes in pathogens causing early-onset sepsis in very-low-birth-weight infants. N Engl J Med 2002; 347: 240–247.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Stoll BJ, Hansen NI, Bell EF, Shankaran S, Laptook AR, Walsh MC et al. Neonatal outcomes of extremely preterm infants from the NICHD Neonatal Research Network. Pediatrics 2010; 126: 443–456.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Stoll BJ, Hansen NI, Sanchez PJ, Faix RG, Poindexter BB, Van Meurs KP et al. Early onset neonatal sepsis: the burden of group B Streptococcal and E. coli disease continues. Pediatrics 2011; 127: 817–826.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. WHO. Pneumococcal vaccines WHO position paper—2012. WHO-The Weekly Epidemiological Record 2012; 87: 129–144.

    Google Scholar 

  17. Scumpia PO, Delano MJ, Kelly-Scumpia KM, Weinstein JS, Wynn JL, Winfield RD et al. Treatment with GITR agonistic antibody corrects adaptive immune dysfunction in sepsis. Blood 2007; 110: 3673–3681.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Adkins B, Leclerc C, Marshall-Clarke S . Neonatal adaptive immunity comes of age. Nat Rev Immunol 2004; 4: 553–564.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Carneiro-Sampaio M, Coutinho A . Immunity to microbes: lessons from primary immunodeficiencies. Infect Immun 2007; 75: 1545–1555.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Moss SJ, Fenton AC, Toomey JA, Grainger AJ, Smith J, Gennery AR . Responses to a conjugate pneumococcal vaccine in preterm infants immunized at 2, 3, and 4 months of age. Clin Vaccine Immunol 2010; 17: 1810–1816.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. de Andrade AL, Pimenta FC, Laval CA, de Andrade JG, Guerra ML, Brandileone MC . Invasive pneumococcal infection in a healthy infant caused by two different serotypes. J Clin Microbiol 2004; 42: 2345–2346.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Park SY, Van Beneden CA, Pilishvili T, Martin M, Facklam RR, Whitney CG . Invasive pneumococcal infections among vaccinated children in the United States. J Pediatr 2010; 156: 478–483 e472.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Wynn J, Cornell TT, Wong HR, Shanley TP, Wheeler DS . The host response to sepsis and developmental impact. Pediatrics 2010; 125: 1031–1041.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Wynn JL, Levy O . Role of innate host defenses in susceptibility to early-onset neonatal sepsis. Clin Perinatol 2010; 37: 307–337.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Madhi SA, Violari A, Klugman KP, Lin G, McIntyre JA, von Gottberg A et al. Inferior quantitative and qualitative immune responses to pneumococcal conjugate vaccine in infants with nasopharyngeal colonization by Streptococcus pneumoniae during the primary series of immunization. Vaccine 2011; 29: 6994–7001.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. Ang JY, Lua JL, Asmar BI, Shankaran S, Heyne RJ, Schelonka RL et al. Nasopharyngeal carriage of Streptococcus pneumoniae in very low-birth-weight infants after administration of heptavalent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 2010; 164: 1173–1175.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Walsh MC, Kliegman RM . Necrotizing enterocolitis: treatment based on staging criteria. Pediatr Clin North Am 1986; 33: 179–201.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The National Institutes of Health, the NICHD, the National Center for Research Resources and the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences provided grant support for the Neonatal Research Network’s PCV7 and Generic Database Studies. Data collected at participating sites of the NICHD NRN were transmitted to RTI International, the data coordinating center (DCC) for the network, which stored, managed and analyzed the data for this study. One behalf of the NRN, Dr A Das (DCC Principal Investigator) and Dr L Li (DCC Statistician) had full access to all of the data in the study, and with the NRN Center Principal Investigators, take responsibility for the integrity of the data and accuracy of the data analysis. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. We are indebted to our medical and nursing colleagues and the infants and their parents who agreed to take part in this study.

Author contributions

Dr JL Wynn, MD, conceptualized and designed the study, drafted the initial manuscript and approved the final manuscript as submitted. Dr L Li, PhD, performed the analyses, drafted the initial manuscript and approved the final manuscript as submitted. Dr CM Cotten, MD MHS, conceptualized and designed the study, drafted the initial manuscript and approved the final manuscript as submitted. Dr DL Phelps, MD, drafted the initial manuscript and approved the final manuscript as submitted. Dr S Shankaran, MD, drafted the initial manuscript and approved the final manuscript as submitted. Dr RN Goldberg, MD, drafted the initial manuscript and approved the final manuscript as submitted. Dr WA Carlo, MD, drafted the initial manuscript and approved the final manuscript as submitted. Dr K Van Meurs, MD, drafted the initial manuscript and approved the final manuscript as submitted. Dr A Das, PhD, performed the analyses, drafted the initial manuscript, and approved the final manuscript as submitted. Dr BR Vohr, MD, drafted the initial manuscript and approved the final manuscript as submitted. Dr RD Higgins, MD, drafted the initial manuscript and approved the final manuscript as submitted. Dr BJ Stoll, MD, conceptualized and designed the study, drafted the initial manuscript and approved the final manuscript as submitted. Dr CT D’Angio, MD, conceptualized and designed the study, drafted the initial manuscript and approved the final manuscript as submitted.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Consortia

Corresponding author

Correspondence to J L Wynn.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Supplementary Information accompanies the paper on the Journal of Perinatology website

Supplementary information

APPENDIX

APPENDIX

The following investigators, in addition to those listed as authors, participated in this study:

NRN Steering Committee Chairs: AH Jobe, MD PhD, University of Cincinnati (2003 to 2006); MS Caplan, MD, University of Chicago, Pritzker School of Medicine (2006 to 2011).

Duke University School of Medicine, University Hospital, Alamance Regional Medical Center and Durham Regional Hospital (U10 HD40492, UL1 RR24128, M01 RR30): RF Goldstein, MD; KJ Auten, MSHS; MB Lohmeyer, RN MSN.

Emory University Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Grady Memorial Hospital and Emory Crawford Long Hospital (GCRC M01 RR39, U10 HD27851): EC Hale, RN BS CCRC.

Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development: LL Wright, MD.

RTI International (U10 HD36790): W Kenneth Poole, PhD; S Emrich, MS; BK Hastings; Elizabeth McClure, MEd; JE Newman, PhD MPH; J O’Donnell Auman, BS; RL Perritt, MS; CP Huitema, MS; SE Schaefer, BS MS; K Zaterka-Baxter, RN.

Stanford University and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital (U10 HD27880, M01 RR70): SR Hintz, MD MS; ME DeAnda, PhD; MB Ball, BS CCRC.

University of Alabama at Birmingham Health System and Children’s Hospital of Alabama (U10 HD34216, M01 RR32): RL Schelonka, MD; M Peralta-Carcelen, MD MPH; MV Collins, RN BSN; SS Cosby, RN BSN; VA Phillips, RN BSN.

University of Miami, Holtz Children's Hospital (U10 HD21397, M01 RR16587): S Duara, MD; CR Bauer, MD; R Everett-Thomas, RN BSN.

University of Rochester Medical Center, Golisano Children's Hospital (U10 HD40521, M01 RR44): GJ Myers, MD; CA Horihan, MS; RL Jensen; DL Hust, RN PNP.

University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas Parkland Health and Hospital System and Children's Medical Center Dallas (U10 HD40689, M01 RR633): CR Rosenfeld, MD; WA Salhab, MD; PJ Sánchez, MD; RJ Heyne, MD; A Guzman; G Hensley, RN; JF Hickman, RN; NA Miller, RN; JS Morgan, RN; SS Adams, MS, RN, CPNP; L Madden, BSN, RN, CPNP; E Heyne, PA-C, PsyD.

Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, Brenner Children’s Hospital and Forsyth Medical Center (U10 HD40498, M01 RR7122): TM O’Shea, MD MPH; LK Washburn, MD; RG Dillard, MD; NJ Peters, RN CCRP; BG Jackson, RN BSN.

Wayne State University, Hutzel Women’s Hospital and Children’s Hospital of Michigan (U10 HD21385): YR Johnson, MD MPH; A Pappas, MD; R Bara, RN BSN; G Muran, RN BSN; D Kennedy, RN BSN.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Wynn, J., Li, L., Cotten, C. et al. Blood stream infection is associated with altered heptavalent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine immune responses in very low birth weight infants. J Perinatol 33, 613–618 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/jp.2013.5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/jp.2013.5

Keywords

Search

Quick links