PCB Exposure Affects Antibody Response in Vaccinated Children

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EHP commentary on:

Reduced antibody responses to vaccinations in children exposed to

polychlorinated biphenyls. PLoS Med 3(8):e311

Heilmann C, Grandjean P, Weihe P, Nielsen F, Budtz-Jørgensen E. 2006.

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/picrender.fcgi?artid=1551916 & blobtype=pdf

PCB Exposure Affects Antibody Response in Vaccinated Children

http://www.ehponline.org/docs/2007/115-1/niehsnews.html#anew

Although children are known to display varied antibody responses to

vaccination, little is known about the causes of these variations. One

possibility is that persistent organochlorine pollutants such as

polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) elicit immunotoxic effects that influence

the production of specific antibodies. In this report, NIEHS grantee

Philippe Grandjean of the Harvard School of Public Health and his

colleagues confirm an association between increased PCB exposure and

decreased antibody production in vaccinated children.

The researchers looked at two birth cohorts of generally healthy children

(119 children at age 18 months and 129 at age 7 years) living in the Faroe

Islands of the North Atlantic, where the traditional diet includes whale

blubber that may be contaminated with PCBs. The children were examined

after receiving routine childhood vaccinations against tetanus and

diphtheria. The researchers determined the children's exposure to PCBs by

measuring PCB concentrations in their mothers' blood during pregnancy and

milk soon after birth, and in the children's own blood at the time of the

study.

The researchers used standard regression analysis techniques to determine

the effects of PCB exposure on the production of diphtheria and tetanus

antibodies in the children. They found that for each doubling of PCB

exposure, diphtheria antibody response decreased by 24% in the

18-month-old children. They also saw a 16% reduction of the tetanus

antibody response with each doubling of exposure in the older children.

Both prenatal and postnatal exposure seemed to significantly affect

antibody concentrations. Although most of the children's antibody

concentrations were well within the range considered necessary to protect

against tetanus and diphtheria, the researchers noted diphtheria antibody

concentrations below the acceptable limit for long-term protection in 26

of the 7-year-olds two years after receiving a booster vaccination.

Limitations to the study included the small number of children in the two

cohorts and the possibility of exposure to other seafood contaminants,

such as p,p´-DDE. However, the authors say the findings demonstrate

evidence of pollutant influences on reduced antibody production after

routine childhood vaccination, which could lower a child's protection

against infectious diseases.

Tillett

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