Determination of antigenic properties of vaccine derived poliovirus strains.

In this study, the immunity level of the southern Greek population in the 1-10-year, 11-20-year, 21-30-year and 31-40-year age groups with regard to Sabin vaccine strains and a collection of 11 recombinant and three non-recombinant poliovirus vaccine strains was determined. The results showed the lowest neutralization titre in the 21-30-year-age group against poliovirus type 3. Moreover, the capsid coding region of OPV (oral poliovirus vaccine) derivatives was sequenced in order to identify mutations that might lead to antigenic changes. In Sabin-1 derivatives a tendency of accumulation of mutations was observed in or near antigenic sites while in Sabin-2 and Sabin-3 derivatives in sites known to be involved in restoring neurovirulence or eliminating their temperature-sensitive phenotype. It was concluded that the combination of mutations in the capsid coding region and not the number of specific mutations in antigenic sites determines the antigenic properties of OPV derivatives and their reactivity with human sera.