title: Factors affecting antibody levels after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation.
abstract: To obtain insight into the mechanism(s) of posttransplantation humoral immunodeficiency, we evaluated factors affecting serum antibody levels against polio, tetanus, Haemophilus influenzae, and Streptococcus pneumoniae in 87 patients. Patients with hematologic malignancies were randomized to receive marrow versus blood stem cells, which contain approximately 10 times more lymphocytes than marrow. Blood stem cell recipients did not have higher antibody levels than marrow recipients. Recipient pretransplantation antibody levels were correlated with the posttransplantation levels, especially in the first 6 months after transplantation when the correlation coefficients typically exceeded 0.6. Donor pretransplantation antibody levels had less of a correlation with posttransplantation levels in the recipient. Patient or donor age, total body irradiation, and graft-versus-host disease or its treatment appeared to have no effect. In conclusion, antibody levels in the first year after transplantation are affected primarily by pretransplantation antibody levels in the recipient and, to a lesser degree, in the donor. These findings suggest that immunization of the recipient and the donor before transplantation may be more effective in improving antibody immunity after transplantation than manipulating graft-versus-host disease, changing conditioning, or increasing the number of lymphocytes in the graft.
authors.affiliation: Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA 98109-1024, USA. jstorek@fhcrc.org
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Storek
authors.forename: Federico
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Viganego
authors.forename: Monja A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Dawson
authors.forename: M M P Tineke
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Herremans
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Boeckh
authors.forename: Mary E D
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Flowers
authors.forename: Barry
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Storer
authors.forename: William I
authors.initials: WI
authors.lastname: Bensinger
authors.forename: Robert P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Witherspoon
authors.forename: David G
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Maloney
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000917:Antibody Formation / Q000528:radiation effects; D000918:Antibody Specificity; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial / Q000276:immunology; D000956:Antigens, Viral / Q000276:immunology; D016026:Bone Marrow Transplantation / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006086:Graft vs Host Disease / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000097:blood; D007156:Immunologic Memory; D007165:Immunosuppression Therapy / Q000009:adverse effects; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D036102:Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Transplantation; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D014019:Tissue Donors; D019172:Transplantation Conditioning; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous / Q000276:immunology*; D014916:Whole-Body Irradiation / Q000009:adverse effects
chemical_list: D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D000956:Antigens, Viral; D007074:Immunoglobulin G