Ruben C. De Groot (Netherlands)

Erasmus MC Pediatrics
In 2014 I completed medical school at the Erasmus University Rotterdam. After gaining clinical experience in Pediatrics I started my PhD on the host response during Mycoplasma pneumoniae carriage and infection, which consists of several translational projects supervised by dr. Wendy Unger and prof. Annemarie van Rossum. In 2020 I started in the Erasmus MC - Sophia Children's Hospital residency program in Pediatrics.

Presenter of 1 Presentation

 Conference Calendar

MYCOPLASMA PNEUMONIAE CARRIAGE EVADES INDUCTION OF PROTECTIVE MUCOSAL ANTIBODIES (ID 322)

Session Name
2497 - PARALLEL SYMPOSIUM 10 (JOINT SESSION WITH FIND): MODERN APPROACHES TO DIAGNOSING LUNG INFECTIONS (ID 100)
Lecture Time
10:59 - 11:06
Room
Hall 02
Presenter

Abstract

Background

Mycoplasma pneumoniae is the most common bacterial cause of pneumonia in children hospitalized for community-acquired pneumonia. Prevention of infection by vaccines may be an important strategy in the presence of emerging macrolide resistant M. pneumoniae. However, knowledge of immune responses to M. pneumoniae is limited, complicating vaccine design. We therefore studied the antibody response during M. pneumoniae infection and asymptomatic carriage.

Methods

We measured mucosal and systemic antibody levels to M. pneumoniae in nasal lavage and serum samples from M. pneumoniae pneumonia patients, non-M. pneumoniae pneumonia patients, asymptomatic M. pneumoniae carriers and non-carriers in two independent cohorts. We used an in vitro assay to measure the ability of antibodies to block adhesion of M. pneumoniae to respiratory epithelium.

Results

In a nested case-control study (n=80) of M. pneumoniae carriers and matched controls we observed that carriage by M. pneumoniae does not lead to a rise in either mucosal or systemic M. pneumoniae-specific antibodies, even after months of persistent carriage. We replicated this finding in a second cohort (n=69) and also found that during M. pneumoniae community-acquired pneumonia, mucosal levels of M. pneumoniae-specific IgA and IgG did increase significantly. In vitro adhesion assays revealed that high levels of M. pneumoniae-specific antibodies in nasal secretions of pediatric patients prevented the adhesion of M. pneumoniae to respiratory epithelial cells.

Conclusions

In conclusion, our study demonstrates that M. pneumoniae-specific mucosal antibodies protect against bacterial adhesion to respiratory epithelial cells and are induced only during M. pneumoniae infection and not during asymptomatic carriage. This is strikingly different from carriage with bacteria such as Streptococcus pneumoniae where mucosal antibodies are induced by bacterial carriage.

Clinical Trial Registration

Medical Ethics Review Board of the Erasmus MC NL20418.078.08

Hide