VACCINE

Lupus • November 2009
Vaccination of healthy subjects and autoantibodies:
from mice through dogs to humans
Author information
Toplak N1, Avcin T.
1. Department of Allergology
Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology
University Children’s Hospital
University Medical Centre Ljubljana, Slovenia
natasa.toplak@kclj.si
Abstract
Vaccination against pathogenic microorganisms is one of the major achievements
of modern medicine, but due to an increasing number of reports of
adverse reactions the vaccination procedure has induced also considerable debate.
It is well known that certain infections are involved in triggering the production
of autoantibodies, which could lead to autoimmune adverse reactions
in genetically predisposed subjects. Based on these findings it was assumed
that vaccinations might induce similar autoimmune reactions. At present there
is no clear-cut evidence that vaccinations are associated with overt autoimmune
diseases but it has been demonstrated that in genetically predisposed
persons vaccination can trigger the production of autoantibodies and autoimmune
adverse reactions. The first studies investigating the production of
autoantibodies following vaccination were done in dogs and mice. Several
studies investigated the production of autoantibodies following vaccination
in patients with autoimmune diseases, but there are only limited data on the
autoimmune responses after vaccinations in apparently healthy humans. This
review summarizes current evidence on the vaccination-induced autoantibodies
in apparently healthy subjects including studies in animals and humans.
“due to an increasing number
of reports of adverse reactions
the vaccination procedure has
induced also considerable debate ...
it has been demonstrated that in
genetically predisposed persons
vaccination can trigger the production
of autoantibodies and autoimmune
adverse reactions.”
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=19880566