OBJECTIVE Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) is an effective way to prevent invasive pneumococcal diseases in high risk populations. The efficacy of this vaccine in paediatric oncology patients remains unknown. DESIGN AND SETTING The authors evaluated the antibody response to seven pneumococcal serotypes in paediatric oncology patients given two doses of heptavalent PCV (PCV-7). RESULTS F...

Granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) is considered to improve host defense during infection, via increased recruitment of and enhanced performance of neutrophils and subsequent inhibition of potentially harmful proinflammatory mediators. The present study sought to determine the role of endogenous G-CSF in host defense against pneumococcal pneumonia. Patients with unilateral community-...

Streptococcus pneumoniae is a microorganism that frequently causes serious infections in children, the elderly, and immunocompromised patients. We studied whether the specific intracellular adhesion molecule-grabbing nonintegrin R1 (Sign-R1) receptor, involved in the uptake of capsular polysaccharides (caps-PS) by antigen-presenting cells, is necessary for the antibody response to pneumococcal ...

A heptavalent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV-7) protects children against invasive pneumococcal disease. The aim of this study was to evaluate immunoglobulin subclass and serotype-specific pneumococcal antibody responses to vaccination in children with a history of recurrent or severe bacterial infections. Pneumococcal IgG, IgG1, IgG2 titres were assayed by ELISA, and nine serotype concent...

Detection of immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibody to pneumolysin (PLY) in precipitated circulating immune complexes (CICs) has been used to diagnose pneumococcal pneumonia. With care to include appropriate controls, we precipitated and dissociated CICs and then assayed for IgG antibody to PLY. We detected IgG antibody to PLY in CICs that were precipitated from serum samples that were obtained at the...

Acute exacerbation is a frequent complication of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Recent studies suggested a role for bacteria such as Streptococcus pneumoniae in the development of acute exacerbation. For this study, we investigated the following in COPD patients: (i) the epidemiology of pneumococcal colonization and infection, (ii) the effect of pneumococcal colonization on the d...

Specific tolerance to phosphorylcholine (PC) can be induced in BALB/c mice by neonatal injection with either pneumococcal C-polysaccharide (PnC) or anti-TEPC 15 idiotype (T15Id) antibody specific for the major idiotype (Id) of anti-PC antibody. Spleen cells from these tolerant mice exhibited T cell-mediated active suppression of anti-PC response when they were co-cultured with normal spleen cel...

BACKGROUND Methods to determine the microbial cause of community acquired pneumonia include detection of pneumococcal antigen and measurement of pneumococcal capsular antibody response. Their usefulness compared with conventional microbiological techniques was investigated in patients with pneumonia, some of whom had been treated with antibiotics. METHODS Pneumococcal capsular antigen was det...

INTRODUCTION The objective of the study was to investigate the impact of newer biologic treatments including rituximab, abatacept and tocilizumab on antibody response following pneumococcal vaccination using a 7-valent conjugate vaccine in patients with established rheumatoid arthritis (RA). METHODS Patients with RA receiving rituximab, abatacept or tocilizumab as monotherapy or combined with...

Streptococcus pneumoniae is a bacterial microorganism that frequently causes serious infection, particularly in children and the elderly. Protection against infection with S. pneumoniae is based mainly on the generation of antibodies to the pneumococcal capsular polysaccharides (caps-PS), but the mechanisms responsible for the generation of anticapsular antibodies remain incompletely understood...