Patients with Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome Show Severely Impaired Responses to Vaccines

Multiple Choice

Patients with Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome show severely impaired responses to vaccines such as the tetanus vaccine, which is composed of the inactivated tetanus toxin (i.e., tetanus toxoid) . Yet, these patients can generate normal antibody responses to bacterial polysaccharide antigens. This selective defect in antibody responses in Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome patients is due to:

A) Defective antigen presentation by dendritic cells
B) Impaired phagocytic function of macrophages and dendritic cells
C) Defective polarized secretion of cytokines by CD4 T cells
D) Impaired B cell activation to monovalent, rather than polyvalent antigens
E) Impaired migration of B cells to germinal centers