High Predictability for Measles Antibody Dynamics Discernible From Birth

MONDAY, May 13, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- At the individual level, there is high predictability for measles antibody dynamics from birth, according to a study published online May 13 in Nature Microbiology.

Wei Wang, from the Key Laboratory of Public Health Safety in Shanghai, and colleagues reconstructed antibody trajectories from birth by combining serological data from 1,505 individuals (aged 0 to 12 years) in a mother-infant cohort and in a child cohort from Hunan, China, with empirical models. Participants had complete measles vaccination records and antibody measurements.

The researchers found that across a population, measles antibody evolution was highly heterogeneous, and at the individual level, antibody evolution was strongly predictive from birth, including following vaccination. The odds of primary vaccine failure were increased 2.56-fold in association with cesarean births.

"With a C-section birth, children aren't exposed to the mother's microbiome in the same way as with a vaginal birth," joint senior author Henrik Salje, Ph.D., from the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, said in a statement. "We think this means they take longer to catch up in developing their gut microbiome, and with it, the ability of the immune system to be primed by vaccines against diseases, including measles."

One author disclosed ties to the pharmaceutical industry.

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