Gut Liver.  2014 Jan;8(1):24-28.

Evaluation of Antibody Response to Polysaccharide Vaccine and Switched Memory B Cells in Pediatric Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease

• Fallahi G
• Aghamohammadi A
• Khodadad A
• Hashemi M
• Mohammadinejad P
• Asgarian-Omran H
• Najafi M
• Farhmand F
• Motamed F
• Soleimani
• Soheili H
• Parvaneh N
• Darabi B
• Nasiri Kalmarzi R
• Pourhamdi
• Abolhassani H
• Mirminachi B
• Rezaei N

Abstract

BACKGROUND/AIMS
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic disease of the gastrointestinal tract, whose etiologies are still unknown. This study was performed to evaluate the humoral immune response in terms of B cell functions in selected IBD patients.
METHODS
Eighteen pediatric patients with IBD, including 12 cases of ulcerative colitis (UC) and six with Crohn disease (CD), were enrolled in this study. The pneumococcal vaccine was injected in all patients, and the IgG antibody level to the polysaccharide antigen was measured before and 4 weeks after injection. The B cell switch-recombination process was evaluated.
RESULTS
Five patients with IBD (three CD and two UC) had defects in B cell switching, which was significantly higher than in controls (p=0.05). Ten patients had a specific antibody deficiency and exhibited a higher frequency of bacterial infection than the healthy group. The mean increased level of IgG after vaccination was lower in IBD patients (82.9+/-32.5 microg/mL vs 219.8+/-59.0 microg/mL; p=0.001). Among the patients who had an insufficient response, no significant difference in the number of switched memory B-cell was observed.
CONCLUSIONS
A defect in B lymphocyte switching was observed in pediatric IBD patients, and especially in those patients with CD. Owing to an increased risk of bacterial infections in those patients with antibody production defects, pneumococcal vaccination could be recommended. However, not all patients can benefit from the vaccination, and several may require other prophylactic methods.

Keyword

Inflammatory bowel diseases; Crohn disease; Colitis, ulcerative; Polysaccharide vaccine; Switched memory B cells

MeSH Terms

Adolescent
Antibody Formation/*drug effects
B-Lymphocytes/metabolism
Child
Child, Preschool
Colitis, Ulcerative/complications/*immunology
Crohn Disease/complications/*immunology
Female
Humans
Immunoglobulin G/metabolism
Inflammatory Bowel Diseases/complications/*immunology
Male
Pneumococcal Vaccines/*pharmacology
Polysaccharides/*pharmacology
Treatment Outcome
Immunoglobulin G
Pneumococcal Vaccines
Polysaccharides