Publication
Title
The influence of maternal antibodies on the immune responses of term and preterm born infants
Author
Abstract
Vaccination during pregnancy augments the disease-specific maternal antibodies, which will be successfully transferred to the fetus in utero, and later to the newborn via the breast milk. Both the transferred and breast milk antibodies help to protect the newborn against the targeted pathogen up till several months after birth. Next to a protective effect, maternal antibodies have been observed to interfere with (or modulate) the infants’ antibody responses at the time of the infants’ vaccination, often resulting in significantly lower antibody concentrations amongst infants born to vaccinated mothers. However, it remains unclear whether this maternal antibody modulation has any impact on the equally important cellular immune responses. This thesis further explores the benefits of maternal pertussis vaccination in preterm born infants and illustrates the modulatory effects of high maternal antibodies on the humoral and cellular immune responses after the infants’ primary and booster vaccination.
Language
English
Publication
Antwerp : University of Antwerp, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Vaccine & Infectious Diseases Institute (VAXINFECTIO) , 2021
Volume/pages
235 p.
Note
Supervisor: Leuridan, Elke [Supervisor]
Supervisor: van Damme, Pierre [Supervisor]
Supervisor: Ogunjimi, Benson [Supervisor]
Full text (open access)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Publication type
Subject
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
Record
Identifier
Creation 29.09.2021
Last edited 07.10.2022
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