Systemic and mucosal immune responses to rhesus rotavirus vaccine MMU 18006

Thirty-four children 3 to 20 months of age ingested either 10(5), 10(4) or 10(3) plaque-forming units of rhesus rotavirus vaccine, MMU 18006, which possesses human rotavirus serotype 3 neutralization antigen. Immune responses were evaluated by a plaque reduction neutralization (PRN) assay to rotavirus serotypes 1, 2 and 3 and by a serum IgG, IgM and IgA and fecal IgA class-specific enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Homotypic PRN antibody seroconversions to serotype 3 rotavirus were detected in 31 of 34 children (91%), whereas rises in heterotypic PRN antibody to human rotavirus serotypes 1 or 2 were found in only 3 of 21 (14%) (p less than 0.00000001). Thirty of the 34 vaccinated children (88%) had at least one class of rotavirus-specific serum antibody detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. A rotavirus-specific IgA coproantibody response was seen in 11 of 16 children (69%) following vaccination. Two children who had no evidence of PRN antibody to serotype 3 after vaccination had evidence of both a fecal and a serum rotavirus-specific IgA response, suggesting that in these children the response to the vaccine was primarily mucosal. These data show that orally administered rhesus rotavirus vaccine MMU 18006 elicits local intestinal immunity but produces primarily a homotypic serum neutralization response as measured by plaque reduction neutralization assays.