Vaccinations and Infections Are Associated With Unrelated Antibody Titers: An Analysis From the German Birth Cohort Study LISA.
Mahrrouz Caputo, Heike Raupach-Rosin, André Karch, Michael Borte, Irina Lehmann, Uwe Gerd Liebert, Marie Standl, Joachim Heinrich, Rafael T Mikolajczyk
Author Information
Mahrrouz Caputo: Department of Epidemiology, Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, Brunswick, Germany.
Heike Raupach-Rosin: Department of Epidemiology, Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, Brunswick, Germany.
André Karch: Department of Epidemiology, Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, Brunswick, Germany.
Michael Borte: Children's Hospital, Municipal Hospital St. Georg Leipzig, Academic Teaching Hospital of the University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.
Irina Lehmann: Department of Environmental Immunology, Core Facility Studies, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research- UFZ, Leipzig, Germany.
Uwe Gerd Liebert: Institute of Virology, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany.
Marie Standl: Helmholtz Zentrum München- German Research Center for Environmental Health, Institute of Epidemiology, Munich, Germany.
Joachim Heinrich: Helmholtz Zentrum München- German Research Center for Environmental Health, Institute of Epidemiology, Munich, Germany.
Rafael T Mikolajczyk: German Centre for Infection Research (DZIF), Site Brunschwick-Hannover, Brunswick, Germany.
The evidence for non-specific effects (NSE) of vaccinations on all-cause morbidity and mortality among children is growing. However, our understanding of the underlying mechanisms is still limited. One hypothesis is that NSE are mediated by antibody titers. We used data of 2,123 children from the population-based birth cohort study LISA conducted in Germany to explore whether routine childhood vaccinations and the individual infection history in the first 2 years of life are associated with unrelated antibody titers. We selected 19 exposures (infections and vaccinations) and investigated their association with levels of 12 IgG antibody titers at the age of 2 years. Based on univariable analyses (ANOVA), we identified 21 crude associations between exposures and titers ( < 0.05), while 11 (95%-CI: 6, 17) spurious associations were expected due to multiple testing. In exploratory multivariable analyses, we observed associations between seven investigated IgG titers and 10 exposures; either administered vaccines [e.g., higher anti-hRSV IgG titer in BCG-vaccinated children (regression-coefficient in standard-deviation-units: 0.38; 95%-CI: 0.12, 0.65)] or infections [e.g., higher anti-measles IgG titer in children with reported chickenpox (0.44; 95%-CI: 0.08, 0.80)]. Our results indicate the existence of associations between immunogenic exposures and unrelated antibody titers. Further studies investigating the underlying immunological mechanisms are required.
