Volume 114, Issue 1 pp. 107-110

Response to vaccination against different types of antigens in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia

Marjatta Sinisalo

Marjatta Sinisalo

Department of Internal Medicine and

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Janne Aittoniemi

Janne Aittoniemi

Department of Clinical Microbiology, Centre for Laboratory Medicine, Tampere University Hospital, Tampere,

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Petri Oivanen

Petri Oivanen

Department of Internal Medicine and

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Helena Käyhty

Helena Käyhty

National Public Health Institute, Helsinki, and

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Rose-Marie Ölander

Rose-Marie Ölander

National Public Health Institute, Helsinki, and

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Juhani Vilpo

Juhani Vilpo

Laboratory of Molecular Haematology, Department of Clinical Chemistry, Centre for Laboratory Medicine, Tampere University Hospital and University of Tampere Medical School, Tampere, Finland

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First published: 12 January 2002
Citations: 76
Dr Marjatta Sinisalo, Department of Internal Medicine, Tampere University Hospital, PO Box 2000, FIN-33521 Tampere, Finland. E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract

We investigated responses to vaccination against pneumococcal polysaccharide, Haemophilus influenzae b (Hib) conjugate and tetanus toxoid antigens in 31 patients with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) and 25 controls. While in the control group all antibody responses against different antigens were highly significant, in the patient group clear evidence for responsiveness was detected only in the case of Hib polysaccharide antigen. Certain CLL patient subgroups showed low reactivity against tetanus toxoid antigen. In conclusion, plain polysaccharide vaccines seem to be ineffective in patients with CLL. Conjugate vaccines, in turn, are immunogenic and may offer protection against infections caused by encapsulated bacteria in these patients. Further studies concerning an optimal vaccination scheme and clinical efficiency are warranted.

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