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Vaccination and heterologous immunity: educating the immune system.

Authors :
Gil, Anna
Kenney, Laurie L.
Mishra, Rabinarayan
Watkin, Levi B.
Aslan, Nuray
Selin, Liisa K.
Source :
Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene; Jan2015, Vol. 109 Issue 1, p62-69, 8p
Publication Year :
2015

Abstract

This review discusses three inter-related topics: (1) the immaturity of the neonatal and infant immune response; (2) heterologous immunity, where prior infection history with unrelated pathogens alters disease outcome resulting in either enhanced protective immunity or increased immunopathology to new infections, and (3) epidemiological human vaccine studies that demonstrate vaccines can have beneficial or detrimental effects on subsequent unrelated infections. The results from the epidemiological and heterologous immunity studies suggest that the immune system has tremendous plasticity and that each new infection or vaccine that an individual is exposed to during a lifetime will potentially alter the dynamics of their immune system. It also suggests that each new infection or vaccine that an infant receives is not only perturbing the immune system but is educating the immune system and laying down the foundation for all subsequent responses. This leads to the question, is there an optimum way to educate the immune system? Should this be taken into consideration in our vaccination protocols? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
00359203
Volume :
109
Issue :
1
Database :
Complementary Index
Journal :
Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
101033440
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1093/trstmh/tru198