Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• HORTON, R. E.
• STUART, J.
• CHRISTENSEN, H.
• BORROW, R.
• GUTHRIE, T.
• DAVENPORT, V.
• FINN, A.
• The ALSPAC Study Team
• WILLIAMS, N. A.
• HEYDERMAN, R. S.

Titel

Influence of age and carriage status on salivary IgA to Neisseria meningitidis

Ist Teil von

• Epidemiology and infection, 2005-10, Vol.133 (5), p.883-889

Ort / Verlag

Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press

Erscheinungsjahr

2005

Quelle

MEDLINE

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Asymptomatic carriage of Neisseria meningitidis is common (5–35% of individuals) while the incidence of invasive meningococcal disease is fairly low (<1–5 per 100000 per annum in Europe). Naturally acquired protective immunity may account for this difference. In this study, we investigated the relationship between anti-meningococcal salivary IgA and age and carriage. We showed that salivary IgA to a range of meningococcal antigens increased successively with age with some specificity for commonly circulating serosubtypes. In a group of 258 students 37 (14%) of whom were carriers of N. meningitidis serogroup B, higher levels of specific IgA were associated with carriage. Stratified analysis revealed a positive relationship between smoking and specific anti-N. meningitidis IgA independent of current carriage, weighted odds ratio (OR) 4·1 (95% CI 1·1–18) and OR 3·8 (95% CI 0·96–16) for reference strains B:1:P1.14 and B:4:P1.5,4 respectively. These data implicate IgA as a factor in host defence from meningococcal invasion, although the precise mechanisms remain uncertain.