Humoral and cellular immune responses after influenza vaccination in patients with postcancer fatigue

Figures & data

Table 1. Baseline characteristics

	Postcancer fatigue (n=15 )	No postcancer fatigue (n=12 )	p-value
Sex
Male	7 (47)	5 (42)	0.795
Female	8 (53)	7 (58)
Age (years)
Mean	49.6±11 .9	48.8±9 .1	0.856
Cancer diagnosis
Breast cancer	7 (47)	7 (58)
Testicular cancer	1 (7)	3 (25)
Melanoma	2 (13)	1 (8)
(Non-)Hodgkin	2 (13)	1 (8)
Other	3 (20)	0
Cancer treatment
Surgery only	3 (20)	1 (8)
Surgery and chemotherapy	2 (13)	3 (25)
Surgery and radiotherapy	2 (13)	2 (17)
Surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy	2 (13)	3 (25)
Surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and hormonal therapy	3 (20)	2 (17)
Chemotherapy only	1 (7)	0
Chemotherapy and radiotherapy	1 (7)	1 (8)
Chemotherapy and radiotherapy Chemotherapy and immunotherapy	1 (7)	0
Time since cancer treatment (months)	66.8±84.9	64.4±32.2	0.928
Influenza vaccination prior to 2010
Yes	5 (33)	2 (17)	0.326
No	10 (67)	10 (83)

Data are presented as mean ± standard deviation or as frequencies with percentages in brackets.

Figure 1. Hemagglutination inhibition antibody responses before (day 1) and after (day 22) influenza vaccination, and cellular proliferation before (day 1) and after (day 8) influenza vaccination. Both immune responses are presented for the 3 influenza strains of the vaccine (H3N2, H1N1, and B), in fatigued (A and C) and non-fatigued (B and D) cancer survivors. Antibody titres are presented as absolute numbers and mean on a linear scale, the dotted line indicates the protective titer cut-off value. Proliferation counts are presented as absolute numbers and mean (horizontal lines) on a logarithmic scale.

Table 2. Humoral and cellular immune responses

	Postcancer fatigue (n=15 )	No postcancer fatigue (n=12 )	p-value
Seroprotection rate baseline (day 1)
H3N2	11 (55)	6 (50)	0.212
H1N1	2 (13)	4 (33)	0.214
B	10 (67)	5 (42)	0.194
H3N2, H1N1, and B	1 (7)	2 (17)	0.411
Seroprotection rate post-vaccination (day 22)
H3N2	12 (80)	12 (100)	0.100
H1N1	12 (80)	10 (83)	0.825
B	13 (87)	8 (67)	0.214
H3N2, H1N1, and B	11 (55)	7 (58)	0.411
Seroresponse rate post-vaccination (day 1 to 22)
H3N2	8 (53)	6 (50)	0.863
H1N1	10 (67)	8 (67)	1.000
B	3 (20)	3 (25)	0.756
H3N2, H1N1, and B	2 (13)	0 (0)	0.189
Proliferation upon stimulation PHA (counts)
Baseline (day 1)	24736±22830	22007±9415	0.702
Post-vaccination (day 8)	22286±15944	28733±18939	0.356
Proliferation upon stimulation H3N2 (counts)
Baseline (day 1)	1414±1201	3099±2401	0.042
Post-vaccination (day 8)	2852±3241	3755±4742	0.569
Proliferation upon stimulation H1N1 (counts)
Baseline (day 1)	3025±2339	5877±4604	0.069
Post-vaccination (day 8)	4560±5004	5944±6458	0.561
Proliferation upon B (counts)
Baseline (day 1)	2311±1622	3551±2389	0.121
Post-vaccination (day 8)	3253±3336	4685±5809	0.434
IL-2 production at baseline (day 1, pg/ml)
H3N2	36.3±44.3	94.0±45.4	0.003
H1N1	28.4±44.0	74.5±56.1	0.030
B	37.0±50.9	53.1±55.3	0.439
IL-10 production at baseline (day 1, pg/ml)
H3N2	2.7±5.0	6.3±10.6	0.286
H1N1	50.0±43.2	55.2±35.5	0.736
B	34.6±80.3	20.6±14.0	0.560
Treg at baseline (day 1, %)
Unstimulated	4.4±2.1	2.4±0.8	0.033
IFN-γ production post-vaccination (day 8, pg/ml)	167.9±216 .8	142.6±253 .0	0.787
H1N1	288.7±343.6	256.6±308.4	0.808
B	326.4±450.4	142.4±252.1	0.199
IL-4 production post-vaccination (day 8, pg/ml)
H3N2	< detection limit	3.0±9.9	0.341
H1N1	2.2±8.5	< detection limit	0.403
B	2.8±10.8	< detection limit	0.403
IL-5 production post-vaccination (day 8, pg/ml)
H3N2	5.5±9.9	3.9±8.7	0.672
H1N1	4.9±8.7	1.0±2.5	0.121
B	0.7±2.6	< detection limit	0.384
HSP90α expression at baseline (day 1, ng/ml)	37±17	41±12	0.530

Data are presented as absolute numbers with percentages in brackets or as mean ± standard error of the mean.