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Safety of live-attenuated measles-mumps-rubella and herpes zoster vaccination in multiple myeloma patients on maintenance lenalidomide or bortezomib after autologous hematopoietic cell transplantation

Bone Marrow Transplantation volume 53, pages 942–945 (2018)Cite this article

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Abstract

Attenuated live virus vaccinations are generally recommended 24 months following hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) in patients not receiving immunosuppressive therapy. To date, there are no data regarding the safety of live-attenuated herpes zoster or measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccinations in multiple myeloma patients on maintenance lenalidomide or bortezomib following autologous HCT. One hundred thirty-seven multiple myeloma patients on maintenance lenalidomide or bortezomib post-auto-HCT who received either MMR or herpes zoster vaccine were analyzed and any adverse events documented in the medical record in the 42 days following vaccination were recorded. Patients were vaccinated a median of 25 months (range, 18–62) post transplant. The most common post-vaccination adverse event was upper respiratory tract infection (18/137 patients); no rash attributed to vaccine strains or other adverse outcomes potentially related to the vaccines were identified. MMR and herpes zoster vaccination were safe and well-tolerated in this cohort.

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Acknowledgements

This research was presented in part at IDWeek on October 25-30, 2016 in New Orleans, LA, as posters #2327 and #2328.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, USA

    Alisha Pandit, Sarah P. Hammond, Jacob P. Laubach, Paul G. Richardson, Lindsey R. Baden, Francisco M. Marty & Nicolas C. Issa

  2. Division of Infectious Diseases, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA

    Alisha Pandit, Sarah P. Hammond, Lindsey R. Baden, Francisco M. Marty & Nicolas C. Issa

  3. Department of Pharmacy, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, USA

    Houry Leblebjian

  4. Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Sarah P. Hammond, Jacob P. Laubach, Paul G. Richardson, Lindsey R. Baden, Francisco M. Marty & Nicolas C. Issa

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  1. Alisha Pandit
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Correspondence to Nicolas C. Issa.

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Conflict of interest

PGR has received research funding from Takeda, BMS, and Celgene; serves on advisory boards for Takeda, Janssen, and Celgene. FMM has received research funding from Astellas, Chimerix, Merck, and Shire; and consulting honoraria from Alexion, Chimerix, LFB, Roche Molecular Diagnostics, and Shire. NCI has received research funding from Astellas and Merck and consulting honoraria from Akros Pharma. The remaining authors AP, HL, SPH, JPL, and LRB declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Pandit, A., Leblebjian, H., Hammond, S.P. et al. Safety of live-attenuated measles-mumps-rubella and herpes zoster vaccination in multiple myeloma patients on maintenance lenalidomide or bortezomib after autologous hematopoietic cell transplantation. Bone Marrow Transplant 53, 942–945 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41409-018-0112-x

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