Abstract
A pilot study of vaccination with live, attenuated varicella vaccine for prevention of zoster was performed in autologous stem cell transplant (SCT) recipients. Nine patients were vaccinated between 3–4 months after transplantation. The antigen-specific immune response was studied by lymphocyte proliferation. No systemic side effects were seen. One of nine patients developed herpes zoster HZ during follow-up. There was a tendency for a strengthened specific immune response after SCT (p=0.12). This pilot study shows that vaccination with live, attenuated varicella vaccine can be performed safely 3–4 months after autologous stem cell transplantation. Additional studies are needed to assess efficacy of this approach in the prevention of HZ.
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This study was supported by the Swedish Cancer Society.
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Ljungman, P., Wang, F.Z., Nilsson, C. et al. Vaccination of autologous stem cell transplant recipients with live varicella vaccine: a pilot study. Support Care Cancer 11, 739–741 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-003-0527-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-003-0527-8