Abstract
Background
This case-control study was conducted to determine the antibody titer against the measles virus in childhood cancer survivors’ post-chemotherapy treatment to determine the patient’s immune status against the measles virus.
Methods
We enrolled 38 children who were in complete remission and whose treatments had been stopped for at least 3 months and 38 age and sex-matched healthy controls. We analyzed the medical records of the cancer survivors, and each study participant’s serum sample was analyzed by the ELISA method to determine the antibody titer against measles.
Results
The cancer survivors had significantly lower measles antibody titers than the healthy control participants, and 78.9% of cancer survivors were unprotected (seronegative) compared to 7.9% in healthy controls. After multivariate analysis, there was no statistically significant factor associated with loss of protective humoral immunity against measles.
Conclusions
These results underline the need for post-chemotherapy measles antibody testing and revaccination of seronegative survivors.
Acknowledgment
We would like to thank patients’ families for their willingness to take part in this study.
Disclosure of interest
The authors declare no potential conflict of interests.
Financial support and sponsorship
Nil.