Response to polysaccharide vaccination amongst pediatric patients with common variable immunodeficiency correlates with clinical disease.

Common variable immunodeficiency (CVID) is a heterogeneous group of disorders, characterized by hypogammaglobulinemia and increased susceptibility to recurrent infections, autoimmunity and malignancies. We have previously shown that some pediatric patients with CVID can respond to meningococcal polysaccharide vaccine. Twelve pediatric cases with CVID were re-evaluated to determine whether bactericidal antibody responses or IgM memory B-cells correlate with the severity of disease resulting from the deficiency. We found that bronchiectasis and clinical manifestations of autoimmunity occur more commonly amongst non-responders to vaccine. In contrast, low populations of memory B-cells do not correlate with these sequelae. The results of this study could help pediatricians plan strategies for prevention of sequelae in children presenting with CVID.