PLoS ONE (Jan 2018)

Dynamic re-immunization of off-treatment childhood cancer survivors: An implementation feasibility study.

  • Jennifer H Han,
  • Kathryn M Harmoney,
  • Elif Dokmeci,
  • Jacqueline Torrez,
  • Cathy M Chavez,
  • Loretta Cordova de Ortega,
  • John F Kuttesch,
  • Martha Muller,
  • Stuart S Winter

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0191804
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 13, no. 2
p. e0191804

Abstract

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There are no universally approved re-vaccination guidelines for non-transplant pediatric cancer survivors. We hypothesized that by utilizing a response-based re-vaccination schedule, we could tailor vaccine schedules in off-treatment cancer survivors. Pre-vaccination antibody levels were obtained in 7 patients at an average of 20 days after the end of treatment date. In those without protective antibody levels, we administered vaccines 3 months after completion of treatment. Revaccinating patients 3 months after the end of treatment date resulted in protective antibody levels for most vaccines. We showed, on a preliminary basis, that vaccinating non-transplanted pediatric cancer survivors can be dynamically implemented in children with recovering immune function.