Immunoglobulin GM and KM genes and measles vaccine-induced humoral immunity

Abstract

Identifying genetic polymorphisms that explain variations in humoral immunity to live measles virus vaccine is of great interest. Immunoglobulin GM (heavy chain) and KM (light chain) allotypes are genetic markers known to be associated with susceptibility to several infectious diseases. We assessed associations between GM and KM genotypes and measles vaccine humoral immunity (neutralizing antibody titers) in a combined cohort (n=1,796) of racially diverse healthy individuals (age 18–41 years). We did not discover any significant associations between GM and/or KM genotypes and measles vaccine-induced neutralizing antibody titers. African-American subjects had higher neutralizing antibody titers than Caucasians (1,260 mIU/mL vs. 740 mIU/mL, p=7.10 × 10−13), and those titers remained statistically significant (p=1.68 × 10−09) after adjusting for age at enrollment and time since last vaccination. There were no statistically significant sex-specific differences in measles-induced neutralizing antibody titers in our study (p=0.375). Our data indicate a surprising lack of evidence for an association between GM and KM genotypes and measles-specific neutralizing antibody titers, despite the importance of these immune response genes.