Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med., Vol 151, No. 4, Apr 1995, 983-985.
Parenteral application of a Pseudomonas aeruginosa flagella vaccine elicits specific anti-flagella antibodies in the airways of healthy individuals
G Doring, C Pfeiffer, U Weber, A Mohr-Pennert and F Dorner
Department of General and Environmental Hygiene, University of Tubingen, Germany.
To test the hypothesis that a Pseudomonas aeruginosa flagella (FLA)
vaccine, intramuscularly administered, elicits specific antibodies in the
respiratory tract, antibody titers against FLA were determined in sera and
bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluids of 10 healthy human adults before and
after immunization. Immunization produced significantly increased anti-FLA
antibody titers in all sera (mean reciprocal titers: IgG: 26,711; IgA:
2,767; IgM: 421) and on respiratory epithelial lining fluids (mean
reciprocal titers: IgG: 112; IgA: 76; sIgA: 26). Significant differences in
class-specific serum and BAL anti-FLA titers suggested airway antibody
production. The study shows that parenteral immunization provides not only
high systemic antibody titers but also local antibody production in the
human respiratory tract.
