Elsevier

Vaccine

Volume 32, Issue 5, 23 January 2014, Pages 611-617
Vaccine

Impact of malaria and helminth infections on immunogenicity of the human papillomavirus-16/18 AS04-adjuvanted vaccine in Tanzania

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2013.11.061Get rights and content
Under a Creative Commons license
open access

Highlights

  • First study to measure impact of malaria and helminth infection on HPV vaccine response.

  • Study nested within a clinical trial of the HPV-16/18 vaccine in Tanzania.

  • High prevalence of parasitic infections among Tanzanian girls and young women.

  • HPV vaccine highly immunogenic regardless of the presence of malaria and helminths.

  • Participants with malaria had increased vaccine response compared to those without.

Abstract

Background


Endemic malaria and helminth infections in sub-Saharan Africa can act as immunological modulators and impact responses to standard immunizations. We conducted a cohort study to measure the influence of malaria and helminth infections on the immunogenicity of the bivalent HPV-16/18 vaccine.

Methods


We evaluated the association between malaria and helminth infections, and HPV-16/18 antibody responses among 298 Tanzanian females aged 10–25 years enrolled in a randomized controlled trial of the HPV-16/18 vaccine. Malaria parasitaemia was diagnosed by examination of blood smears, and helminth infections were diagnosed by examination of urine and stool samples, respectively. Geometric mean antibody titres (GMT) against HPV-16/18 antibodies were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

Results


Parasitic infections were common; one-third (30.4%) of participants had a helminth infection and 10.2% had malaria parasitaemia. Overall, the vaccine induced high HPV-16/18 GMTs, and there was no evidence of a reduction in HPV-16 or HPV-18 GMT at Month 7 or Month 12 follow-up visits among participants with helminths or malaria. There was some evidence that participants with malaria had increased GMTs compared to those without malaria.

Conclusions


The data show high HPV immunogenicity regardless of the presence of malaria and helminth infections. The mechanism and significance for the increase in GMT in those with malaria is unknown.

Keywords

Human papillomavirus
HPV
Vaccine
Immunogenicity
Malaria
Helminth
Parasitic infection
Tanzania
Sub-Saharan Africa

Cited by (0)