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Clinical and Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology, January 2000, p. 111-113, Vol. 7, No. 1
1071-412X/0/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Sex-Associated Differences in the Antibody-Dependent Cellular Cytotoxicity Antibody Response to Measles Vaccines

Sowsan Atabani,1,dagger Gary Landucci,2 Michael W. Steward,1 Hilton Whittle,3 Jeremiah G. Tilles,2 and Donald N. Forthal2,*

Department of Clinical Sciences, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom1; Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, University of California, Irvine College of Medicine, Orange, California2; and MRC Laboratories, Fajara, The Gambia3

Received 5 April 1999/Returned for modification 25 May 1999/Accepted 20 September 1999

In some countries, excessive non-measles-related mortality has been observed among female recipients of high-titer measles vaccines. We determined if differences in the immune response to measles vaccines underlie the excessive female mortality by measuring the measles virus (MV)-specific antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) antibody response in 65 3-year-old Gambian children immunized with Edmonston-Zagreb medium-titer (EZ) or Schwarz standard vaccines during infancy. Among the 20 females and 22 males with undetectable anti-MV antibodies at the time of immunization, females had significantly lower ADCC than males (median cytotoxicities of 1/100 serum dilutions = 8.4 and 12%, respectively; P = 0.04). This sex-associated difference was present only among the six female and seven male recipients of EZ vaccine (median cytotoxicities = 5.1 and 19.0%, respectively; P = 0.02). There were no significant sex-associated differences in neutralizing antibody activity. Decreased ADCC antibody activity may contribute to the lower survival rate observed in females receiving high-titer measles vaccination.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, UC Irvine Medical Center, Route 81, 101 City Dr., Orange, CA 92868. Phone: (714) 456-7612. Fax: (714) 456-7169. E-mail: dnfortha{at}uci.edu.

dagger Present address: Epidemiology Research Centre, Statens Serum Institute, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Clinical and Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology, January 2000, p. 111-113, Vol. 7, No. 1
1071-412X/0/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


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