Mucosally Immunized Mice Exhibit Immune Memory In Old Age.(Brief Article)

2001 JUL 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) --

by N.R. Saltmarsh, staff medical writer - Mice primed with Streptococcus mutans protein AgI/II at three months of age show more intense antibody response to subsequent immunization at two years, say researchers working in the United States.

T. Harrod and colleagues in Alabama sought to evaluate immune response of aged mice who had been vaccinated intragastrically with S. mutans protein AgI/II coupled to the B subunit of cholera toxin (CTB).

They vaccinated the mice with the same vaccine and delivery method at two years and compared antibody responses with mice that had not been primed initially with the vaccine.

Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for antibodies to AgI/II and CT in serum, saliva, and vaginal wash showed that mice that had been primed at three months could mount a more rapid antibody response in serum and secretions, but all animals responded similarly after three doses.

Mice that had been primed in their youth also retained spleen cells that could still proliferate in vitro in response to AgI/II, added Harrod and associates ("Long-term persistence and recall of immune responses in aged mice after mucosal immunization," Oral Microbiology and Immunology, June ...