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Mucosal vaccination and immune responses in the elderly
K Fujihashi1, T Koga, J R McGhee
1Immunobiology Vaccine Center, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Medical Center, Birmingham, AL 35294, USA. kohtarof@uab.edu
Vaccine
|February 26, 2000
Abstract:
To develop a mucosal vaccine strategy for the elderly, we have compared mucosal and systemic immune responses between aged (12-14 months) and young adult (8-12 weeks) mice. Both aged and young mice were immunized weekly with three oral doses of 1 mg of ovalbumin (OVA) and 10 microg of cholera toxin as adjuvant. Although elevated levels of OVA-specific systemic IgG and mucosal IgA Ab responses were seen in young mice, aged mice showed impaired antigen-specific mucosal and systemic immune responses. These results suggest that mucosal immunity is down regulated in aged mice.