Killing of meningococci by neutrophils: effect of vaccination on patients with complement deficiency

To evaluate the in vitro effect of meningococcal vaccination, 3 C7-deficient (C7-D) siblings and 2 normal controls were studied before and 6 weeks after vaccination with treatment meningococcal vaccine (serogroups A, C, Y, and W). Serobactericidal activity was not detected in the C7-D subjects and was low in the controls. Neither group was affected by vaccination. However, opsonized phagocytic killing increased significantly following vaccination in C7-D subjects and normal controls, despite only a modest increase in antimeningococcal titers. Heat inactivation of sera added to neutrophils resulted in low killing activity, which did not increase after vaccination. Thus, tetravalent meningococcal vaccine appears to enhance the phagocytic killing of meningococci in both normal and C7-deficient persons and should be given to all persons with C7 deficiencies.