This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Reprints and Permissions Copyright Information Books from ASM Press MicrobeWorld Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Väkeväinen, M. Articles by Käyhty, H. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Väkeväinen, M. Articles by Käyhty, H.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Clinical and Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology, March 2001, p. 363-369, Vol. 8, No. 2
1071-412X/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/CDLI.8.2.363-369.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Are the Opsonophagocytic Activities of Antibodies in Infant Sera Measured by Different Pneumococcal Phagocytosis Assays Comparable?

Merja Väkeväinen,¹ Wouter Jansen,² Eirikur Saeland,^3, Ingileif Jonsdottir,³ Harm Snippe,² Andre Verheul,² and Helena Käyhty^1,*

National Public Health Institute, Helsinki, Finland,¹ Eijkman-Winkler Institute for Microbiology, Infectious Diseases and Inflammation, Utrecht University Hospital, Utrecht, The Netherlands,² and National University Hospital, Reykjavik, Iceland³

Received 16 June 2000/Returned for modification 12 September 2000/Accepted 2 December 2000

Host protection against Streptococcus pneumoniae is mainly mediated by opsonin-dependent phagocytosis. Several techniques for measuring opsonophagocytic activity (OPA) of antibodies to S. pneumoniae have been standardized and used. These include the viable cell-assay, flow-cytometric assays, and an assay utilizing radiolabeled bacteria. Using these different methods, we measured the OPA of antibodies to S. pneumoniae types 6B and 19F from the sera of infants immunized with a pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, PncCRM. Generally, the results obtained by the various techniques correlated well, although serotype-specific differences were found (6B, r = 0.78 to 0.95, P < 0.001; 19F, r = 0.50 to 0.84, P < 0.001). The same serotype-specific differences were observed for the relationship between the concentrations of specific immunoglobulin G antibodies measured by enzyme immunoassay and the OPA. Since the sensitivities of the OPA assays differed, the most prominent discrepancies between the techniques were found at low antibody concentrations.

---

^* Corresponding author. Mailing address: National Public Health Institute, Department of Vaccines, Mannerheimintie 166, FIN-00300 Helsinki, Finland. Fax: 358-9-4744 8599. E-mail: Helena.Kayhty{at}ktl.fi.

Present address: Department of Immunology, Utrecht University Hospital, Utrecht, The Netherlands.

---

Clinical and Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology, March 2001, p. 363-369, Vol. 8, No. 2
1071-412X/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/CDLI.8.2.363-369.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Fleck, R. A., Romero-Steiner, S., Nahm, M. H. (2005). Use of HL-60 Cell Line To Measure Opsonic Capacity of Pneumococcal Antibodies. CVI 12: 19-27 [Full Text]  
• Romero-Steiner, S., Frasch, C., Concepcion, N., Goldblatt, D., Kayhty, H., Vakevainen, M., Laferriere, C., Wauters, D., Nahm, M. H., Schinsky, M. F., Plikaytis, B. D., Carlone, G. M. (2003). Multilaboratory Evaluation of a Viability Assay for Measurement of Opsonophagocytic Antibodies Specific to the Capsular Polysaccharides of Streptococcus pneumoniae. CVI 10: 1019-1024 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Soininen, A., Karpala, M., Wahlman, S.-L., Lehtonen, H., Kayhty, H. (2002). Specificities and Opsonophagocytic Activities of Antibodies to Pneumococcal Capsular Polysaccharides in Sera of Unimmunized Young Children. CVI 9: 1032-1038 [Abstract] [Full Text]