Safety and immunogenicity of a bivalent group B streptococcal conjugate vaccine for serotypes II and III.

To determine whether 2 monovalent group B streptococcus (GBS) serotype II or III capsular polysaccharide (CPS)-tetanus toxoid (TT) conjugate vaccines combined in a single intramuscular dose would elicit immune responses comparable to those of monovalent vaccines, 75 healthy adults were randomized to receive GBS II-TT (3.6 micro g of CPS), GBS III-TT (12.5 micro g of CPS), or a bivalent mixture of GBS II-TT/III-TT vaccine (double-masked design). Vaccines were well tolerated. Four-fold or greater increases in GBS II or III CPS-specific IgG, respectively, were noted in postimmunization serum samples from 80%-90% of bivalent conjugate vaccine recipients, and these responses were similar to those of recipients of GBS II-TT or GBS III-TT monovalent vaccines. Immune serum samples promoted the opsonophagocytic killing of types II and III GBS in vitro. Unexpectedly, some recipients of these vaccines developed cross-reactive antibodies to the structurally similar heterologous polysaccharide. These results support the feasibility of a multivalent vaccine for the 5 prevalent invasive disease-causing GBS CPS serotypes.