Serologic response to a 23-valent pneumococcal vaccine administered prior to autologous stem cell transplantation in patients with multiple myeloma.

Maja Hinge, Helene A S Ingels, Hans-Christian Slotved, Ingolf Mølle

Department of Hematology, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus C, Denmark. maja.hinge@slb.regionsyddanmark.dk

APMIS : acta pathologica, microbiologica, et immunologica Scandinavica 2012 Nov

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Patients with multiple myeloma are known to have an increased risk of infections with Streptococcus pneumoniae and vaccination is recommended. We retrospectively investigated the response of a 23-valent polysaccharide-based pneumococcal vaccine in 60 patients with multiple myeloma administered prior to autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT). Specific antibody titers were measured before and after vaccination. Disease stage was evaluated and associated to the response. We found that 33% of the patients responded to the vaccine. There was a statistic significant association between response to the vaccine and disease stage (p = 0.01). We conclude that vaccination against S. pneumoniae prior to ASCT is reasonable at least in patients responding well to induction therapy, but still it is important to be aware that the response is frequently poor and the duration of it is unknown. © 2012 The Authors APMIS © 2012 APMIS.

Citation

Maja Hinge, Helene A S Ingels, Hans-Christian Slotved, Ingolf Mølle. Serologic response to a 23-valent pneumococcal vaccine administered prior to autologous stem cell transplantation in patients with multiple myeloma. APMIS : acta pathologica, microbiologica, et immunologica Scandinavica. 2012 Nov;120(11):935-40