Persistence of Varicella-Zoster Virus-Specific Plasma Cells in Adult Human Bone Marrow following Childhood Vaccination
Christiane S. Eberhardt, Andreas Wieland, Tahseen H. Nasti, Alba Grifoni, Elizabeth Wilson, D. Scott Schmid, Bali Pulendran, Alessandro Sette, Edmund K. Waller, Nadine Rouphael, Rafi Ahmed
Abstract
Childhood varicella-zoster virus (VZV) immunization induces immune memory responses that protect against primary VZV infection, chicken pox. In the United States, routine childhood VZV vaccination was introduced only 2 decades ago. Hence, there is limited information on the longevity of B and CD4 T cell memory, which are both important for protection. Here, we showed in 15 healthy young adults that VZV-specific B and CD4 T cell responses are detectable in bone marrow (BM) and blood up to 20 years after vaccination. Specifically, we measured antibody-secreting plasma cells in the BM and VZV-specific CD4 T cells in BM and blood. These findings suggest that childhood VZV vaccination induces long-lived immunity.