Attenuated Antibody Reaction for the Primary Antigen but not for the Recall Antigen of Influenza Vaccination in Patients with Non-Hodgkin B-Cell Lymphoma after the Administration of Rituximab-CHOP

To assess the humoral response to the influenza vaccine in patients undergoing R-CHOP therapy (rituximab combined with cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and predonisolone) for non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), the anti-hemagglutinin (HA) titer in 7 NHL patients undergoing therapy was compared with those in 10 control group subjects in the 2005/2006 season. Four weeks after vaccination, the HA titers against the influenza type A H1N1 and type B antigens, the same antigens that had been used in the previous seasons, were elevated in all patients treated with R-CHOP. In contrast, there was no increase in the geometric mean titer for type A H3N2 antigen, which was newly included in 2005/2006 season, in the patients treated with RCHOP, while there was a significant increase in the 10 control subjects (p = 0.014). This study showed that vaccination against influenza virus generated an appreciable humoral response to recall antigens in NHL patients treated with R-CHOP therapy, but not to the primary antigen.