Pneumolysin is an important virulence factor of Streptococcus pneumoniae. This study examined the hypothesis that human antibody to pneumolysin provides protection against pneumococcal infection. At the time of hospital admission, patients with nonbacteremic pneumococcal pneumonia had higher levels of serum anti-pneumolysin IgG than did patients with bacteremic pneumococcal pneumonia or uninfec...

Local antibodies probably contribute to defense against Streptococcus pneumoniae. This study examined whether pneumococcal carriage and acute otitis media (AOM) induce mucosal antibodies to potential vaccine candidates pneumococcal surface adhesin A (PsaA), pneumolysin (Ply), and pneumococcal surface protein A (PspA). IgA to all 3 proteins was detected by EIA in saliva of 329 children at ages 6...

Pathogen-specific antibody plays an important role in protection against pneumococcal carriage and infections. However, neonates and infants exhibit impaired innate and adaptive immune responses, which result in their high susceptibility to pneumococci. To protect neonates and infants against pneumococcal infection it is important to elicit specific protective immune responses at very young age...

Background: Pneumococcal vaccine provides protection against invasive pneumococcal disease in population at risk. This study was conducted to compare the antibody response to 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine and 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine in patients with thalassemia major. Methods: A randomized cross-over clinical trial was performed on 50 asplenic patients with t...

The production and role of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) in pneumococcal pneumonia were investigated in a mouse pneumonia model. When approximately 10(6) CFU of Streptococcus pneumoniae TUM19 were used to inoculate CBA/J mice intranasally, TNF-alpha levels in the lungs and serum began to increase from 1 and 3 days after infection, respectively, concomitantly with the increase in bacte...

PspA and pneumolysin (Ply) are important protein vaccine candidates. HIV infection is associated with increased susceptibility to pneumococcal pneumonia and concomitantly high pneumococcal carriage rates. Pneumococcal exposure is immunizing at the mucosa in healthy adults and so we wished to determine if the increased pneumococcal exposure in HIV-infected adults would be associated with altered...

Diagnostic techniques for invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) in children are insensitive and underestimate both the burden of disease and the cost-effectiveness of pneumococcal conjugate vaccination (PCV). Consequently, there is little demand for the highly effective PCV outside the United States and Europe. In Kenya, diagnosis of pneumococcal pneumonia in adults was achieved with a sensitivit...

As a defective anti-polysaccharide response can exist in the absence of an immunoglobulin deficiency, a series of 26 patients with bronchiectasis of unknown aetiology was vaccinated with a 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine. All patients suffered from recurrent respiratory tract infections. When measuring total antibody levels to pneumococcal serotypes 3, 4 and 9, a normal polysaccha...