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Nutritional Immunology

Men with Low Vitamin A Stores Respond Adequately to Primary Yellow Fever and Secondary Tetanus Toxoid Vaccination^1,2

³ Program in International and Community Nutrition, Department of Nutrition and ⁴ USDA Western Human Nutrition Research Center, University of California Davis, CA 95616 and ⁵ Immunology, Laboratory Sciences Division, International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh, Mohakhali 1212, Dhaka, Bangladesh

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: charles.stephensen{at}ars.usda.gov.

Current recommendations for vitamin A intake and liver stores (0.07 µmol/g) are based on maintaining normal vision. Higher levels may be required for maintaining normal immune function. The objective of this study was to assess the relationship between total body vitamin A stores in adult men and measures of adaptive immune function. We conducted an 8-wk residential study among 36 healthy Bangladeshi men with low vitamin A stores. Subjects received a standard diet and were randomized in a double-blind fashion to receive vitamin A (240 mg) or placebo during wk 2 and 3. Subjects received Yellow Fever Virus (YFV) and tetanus toxoid (TT) vaccines during wk 5. Vitamin A stores were estimated by isotopic dilution during wk 8. Vaccine-specific lymphocyte proliferation, cytokine production, and serum antibody responses were evaluated before and after vaccination. Vitamin A supplementation increased YFV- and TT-specific lymphocyte proliferation and YFV-specific interleukin (IL)-5, IL-10, and tumor necrosis factor- production but inhibited development of a TT-specific IL-10 response. Both groups developed protective antibody responses to both vaccines. Some responses correlated positively with vitamin A stores. These findings indicate that the currently recommended vitamin A intake is sufficient to sustain a protective response to YFV and TT vaccination. However, YFV-specific lymphocyte proliferation, some cytokine responses, and neutralizing antibody were positively associated with liver vitamin A stores > 0.084 µmol/g. Such increases may enhance vaccine protection but raise the question of whether immune-mediated chronic diseases may by exacerbated by high-level dietary vitamin A.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				S. M. Ahmad, M. J. Haskell, R. Raqib, and C. B. Stephensen Markers of Innate Immune Function Are Associated with Vitamin A Stores in Men J. Nutr., February 1, 2009; 139(2): 377 - 385. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]