Mayo Clinic discovers African-Americans respond better to rubella vaccine

Findings may help make immunizations more effective

2014-02-26

(Press-News.org) ROCHESTER, Minn. — Feb. 26, 2014 — Somali Americans develop twice the antibody response to rubella from the current vaccine compared to Caucasians in a new Mayo Clinic study on individualized aspects of immune response. A non-Somali, African-American cohort ranked next in immune response, still significantly higher than Caucasians, and Hispanic Americans in the study were least responsive to the vaccine. The findings appear in the journal Vaccine.

"This is fascinating," says Gregory Poland, M.D., Mayo Clinic vaccinologist and senior author of the study. "We don't know why these groups reacted so differently to the vaccine — that's a subject for further studies — but this new information will help us as we design the vaccines of the future. It will ultimately change how we practice medicine."

The researchers studied a sample of 1,100 healthy children and young adults in Rochester, as well as over 1,000 participants from the U.S. Naval Health Research Center in San Diego as the control group. The Navy members, aged 18 to 40, were all healthy and recently vaccinated, and represented a cross-section of ethnic groups. The study also looked at a subset of a recent immigrant population from Somalia in Rochester. The Minnesota case studies were done in cooperation with the Rochester Epidemiology Project.

The researchers hypothesized that race, sex or ethnicity might contribute to differences in immune response. They found no difference in gender—a surprise, says Dr. Poland, because in most studies women consistently have a better immune response to vaccines than men.

"The significance of the findings is that in the future we may be able to create vaccines for specific groups or even individuals based on their genomic and other characteristics," says Dr. Poland. "That may mean adjusting doses for some or being able to treat larger populations with the same vaccine if the dosage is less."

INFORMATION:

The research team includes first author Iana Haralambieva, M.D., Ph.D., Hannah Salk, Nathaniel Lambert, Ph.D., Inna Ovsyannikova, Ph.D., Richard Kennedy, Ph.D., Nathaniel Warner, and V. Shane Pankratz, Ph.D., all of Mayo Clinic.

The research was funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases-National Institutes of Health, and by Mayo Clinic.

Dr. Poland is the chair of a Safety Evaluation Committee for non-rubella vaccine trials being conducted by Merck Research Laboratories. Dr. Poland offers consultative advice on vaccine development to Merck & Co. Inc., CSL Biotherapies, Avianax, Sanofi Pasteur, Dynavax, Novartis Vaccines and Therapeutics, PAXVAX Inc., and Emergent Biosolutions. Drs. Poland and Ovsyannikova hold two patents related to vaccinia peptide research. These activities have been reviewed by the Mayo Clinic Conflict of Interest Review Board and are conducted in compliance with Mayo Clinic Conflict of Interest policies. This research has been reviewed by the Mayo Clinic Conflict of Interest Review Board and was conducted in compliance with Mayo Clinic Conflict of Interest policies.

About Mayo Clinic

Recognizing 150 years of serving humanity in 2014, Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit worldwide leader in medical care, research and education for people from all walks of life. For more information, visit 150years.mayoclinic.org, http://www.mayoclinic.org and newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org.

MEDIA CONTACT: Bob Nellis, Mayo clinic Public Affairs, 507-284-5005, newsbureau@mayo.edu

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Mayo Clinic discovers African-Americans respond better to rubella vaccine

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