, UK). Values from at least two dilutions showing parallelism to STI571 chemical structure the standard curve were used to calculate the IgG level, expressed as IU/ml. The lower limit of detection was 1 IU/ml, and sera with values below this were assigned a value of 1 IU/ml. IgG antibodies against pertactin (Prn) (RIVM, the Netherlands) were measured with a similar method as for the anti-PT

IgG, with a Prn coat at 1 μg/ml [17]. The sera were diluted in four two-fold dilutions and the results were calculated against the WHO reference serum 06/140, containing 65 IU/ml anti-Prn IgG by the use of four-parameter curve analysis. IgG antibodies against FHA were analysed using Pertusscan 2 + 2 (Euro-Diagnostica AB, Malmö, Sweden), and the results were reported as a percentage of the negative cut-off (i.e., an optical density of 0.3 equals 100%). This is the preferred kit to measure anti-FHA IgG by the Norwegian diagnostic laboratories. The performance was according to manufacturer’s instruction and one dilution (1:500) of test sera was used in the analysis. In-house positive control serua were included in all ELISA plates and demonstrated good reproducibility of the assays, with a coefficient of variation of <10% for the anti-PT IgG, 16% for the anti-FHA-IgG, and 17% for the anti-PRN-IgG. The sera were grouped into

three subsets: sera from subjects who had received the booster dose at scheduled time (booster group), sera from subjects who had not received the booster (pre-booster group), and sera from subjects who had no recorded pertussis vaccine history. Linear regression analysis was BGB324 research buy used to assess the relationship

between antibody levels and time since booster dose. The sera in the booster group were congregated into groups of 100 days after booster vaccination. Geometric mean (GM) levels and 95% confident intervals (CI) of GM were determined for IgG antibodies against the pertussis antigens PT, FHA and Prn for all groups. Anti-PT IgG ≤5 IU/ml was used as a measure of low specific antibody level. The vaccination history of the 498 children is summarised in Table 1. According to the immunisation register 485 individuals (97%) had received three doses in the primary immunisation series during their first year of life. Of the patients born PDK4 in the years from 1998 to 2002, 89% had received the fourth booster dose according to schedule at the age of 6–8 years. The patients born in 2003 had not yet been offered the booster dose. Thirteen children had no recorded vaccine history. Fig. 1 shows the individual serum IgG levels against PT, FHA and Prn plotted against time since the booster dose (red circles) or since the primary immunisation series (blue triangles). Previous to the booster, the GM anti-PT IgG level was 7.3 IU/ml (95% CI: 6.0, 9.0 IU/ml) of the 104 participants who had only received the primary immunisations.