Abstract
Neisseria meningitidis is a leading cause of invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) with a high case-fatality rate, causing 50,000 deaths worldwide annually.1 Five serogroups of N. meningitidis (A, B, C., W-135 and Y) cause the majority of human disease.2 Prevalence of each serogroup varies temporally and geographically,2,4 and new strains can spread rapidly around the world. Protection against IMD can be achieved using monovalent (A and C only) and multivalent (A, C, W-135 and Y) polysaccharide (PS) meningococcal vaccines, which have demonstrated efficacy and a clinically acceptable safety profiles in children >2-years-old.4 However, in infants < 2 years, these vaccines are poorly immunogenic and do not induce immunological memory. Furthermore, duration of immunity is short (3-5 years) and hyporesponsiveness can occur after repeated doses.4 Effective protein-polysaccharide-conjugate vaccines are licensed for use in children < 2-years-old,5 but only provide protection against serogroup C. GlaxoSmithKline is developing a tetanus toxoid-conjugated tetravalent serogroup A, C, W-135, Y vaccine (MenACWY-TT), which potentially could address some of these issues. In clinical trials, the candidate vaccine demonstrated similar immunogenicity against serogroup C (seroresponse rates >94.8%) to MenC-conjugated vaccines in children aged 1-10 years.6-9 Additionally, immunogenicity of MenACWY-TT post-vaccination was non-inferior to MenACWY-PS vaccines against all four serogroups in adolescents/adults aged 11-55,10,11 with significantly higher MenA, MenW-135 and MenY geometric mean antibody titres 1 year post-vaccination in 11-17-year-olds.11 In clinical trials, MenACWY-TT has shown a clinically acceptable reactogenicity and safety profile.12,13
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Vázquez, J. 5 Successes and Remaining Challenges in Meningococcal Disease Prevention. Pediatr Res 68 (Suppl 1), 3–4 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-201011001-00005
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-201011001-00005
