Antibody persistence after a single dose of quadrivalent HPV vaccine and the effect of a dose of nonavalent vaccine given 3-8 years later – an exploratory study

The objective of this study was to assess the persistence of antibodies after a single dose of quadrivalent HPV vaccine (4vHPV) and the effect of a dose of nonavalent HPV vaccine (9vHPV) given 3–8 years later. Such data might be of interest in the decision-making process regarding the 2-dose course completion in non-compliant vaccinees in jurisdictions which switched from 4vHPV to 9vHPV. Girls who previously received a single dose of 4vHPV were eligible to participate. Blood specimens were collected just before and one month post-9vHPV administration. The specimens were tested by ELISA for the presence of antibodies to 9 HPV types included in the 9vHPV. Thirty-one girls aged 13–18 years (mean 15.5 years) participated in the study. Pre-9vHPV administration, all participants were seropositive to 4 HPV types included in 4vHPV and 58%-87% were seropositive to the five other HPV types included in the 9vHPV. GMTs were 6.1 AU/ml, 7.7 AU/ml, 20.1 IU/ml and 6.3 IU/ml to HPV6, HPV11, HPV16 and HPV18, respectively. The GMTs for the other five HPV types varied from 1.0 to 2.9 AU/ml. One month post-9vHPV administration all 31 participants were seropositive to all 9 HPV types with a 36.1 to 89.1-fold increase of GMTs. High seropositivity rates observed several years after a single dose of 4vHPV and 100% seropositivity after a dose of 9vHPV suggest that this schedule might be used in non-compliant vaccinees or when switching immunization programs from 4vHPV to 9vHPV.