About Nutri-Vac
Despite the worldwide implementation of routine childhood vaccination, an estimated 19 million children annually remain unprotected against measles, invasive pneumococcal disease, diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus due to limited vaccine effectiveness. Nutritional status affects immunity and has been reported to influence the response to vaccination.
Low- and middle-income countries face a double burden of malnutrition, due to a simultaneous increase in childhood underweight and obesity. We assessed how nutritional status, aberrancies in B-cell composition and metabolic markers were associated with the immune response to pneumococcal conjugate and measles vaccination.
We found that a lower weight-for-height Z-score (WHZ) category was associated with lower pneumococcal vaccine response in children living in South Africa. A positive association was found between WHZ-score category and leptin, a pro-inflammatory hormone produced by adipocytes.
The level of pre-germinal center B-cells was associated with pneumococcal antibody decay over time. Population-adjusted immunization strategies may enhance the immunogenicity and protection in high-risk groups.
The Nutri-Vac team
Substudy principal investigators and primary affiliations
Dr. Noor Mutsaerts (South African Medical Research Council Vaccines and Infectious Diseases Analytics Research Unit, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa)
Dr. Lilly Verhagen (Radboudumc, Nijmegen, The Netherlands)
Prof. Marien de Jonge (Radboudumc, Nijmegen, The Netherlands)
Radboud University Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
Bram van Cranenbroek
Annemijn Arns
Dr. Antonius van Herwaarden
Elles Simonetti
Parent study team
South African Medical Research Council Vaccines and Infectious Diseases Analytics Research Unit, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa:
Prof. Shabir Madhi
Dr. Lisa Jose
Dr. Anthonet Koen
Publications
- EAML Mutsaerts, B van Cranenbroek, SA Madhi, E Simonetti, A Arns, L Jose, A Koen, AE van Herwaarden, MI de Jonge, LM Verhagen. Impact of nutritional status on vaccine-induced immunity in children living in South Africa: investigating the B-cell repertoire and metabolic hormones. Vaccine 2024 , in press.
Project funding
