Abstract
The immunodeficiency in Ataxia-telangiectasia (A-T) is characterised by low T and B cell counts, low levels of IgE, IgA and/or IgG2, and especially low levels of pneumococcal antibodies. The 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPV23) has previously been shown not to be effective in A-T, but these patients are capable of making protective antibodies to other vaccines such as diphtheria and tetanus toxin, promising effect of the seven-valent pneumococcal conjugated vaccine (PCV7). Nine A-T patients and 25 age and sex matched controls were vaccinated with both PCV7 and PPV23, and three A-T patients were vaccinated with PCV7 only. In the A-T patients, no significant increase in pneumococcal antibody levels were observed after the single PCV7, while the subsequent PPV23 vaccination resulted in a significant increase in antibody levels to the PPV23 mix, as well as to serotype 4, 14, 19F and to the geometric mean of serotype 4, 6B, 14, 18C, 19F, 23F which increased from median 0.2 (range 0.1-0.5) microg/mL to 0.6 (0.2-1.5) microg/mL (P= 0.014). Compared to the patients' baseline levels, the vaccinations induced a 1.5- to 7-fold increase in antibodies to the six different serotypes tested. The increases in pneumococcal antibody titres were lower than those observed in the controls (9- to 34-fold increase). The results are valuable in planning the care of A-T patients, using PCV7 to trigger and PPV23 to booster the immune response and possibly prevent severe pneumococcal disease.