PURPOSE

To investigate breast cancer survivors' inflammatory responses to typhoid vaccine as a window into their innate immune response to novel pathogens.

METHODS

This double-blind crossover trial randomized 158 breast cancer survivors to either the vaccine/saline placebo or the placebo/vaccine sequence. The relative contributions of age, cardiorespiratory fitness (VO), type of cancer treatment, central obesity, and depression to interleukin (IL)-6, IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1Ra), and WBC vaccine responses were assessed pre-injection and 1.5, 3, 4.5, 6, and 7.5 h post-injection.

RESULTS

The vaccine produced larger IL-6, IL-1Ra, and WBC responses than placebo, ps < 0.0001. Prior chemotherapy, higher central obesity, and lower VO were associated with smaller vaccine responses after controlling for baseline inflammation. Vaccine response was summarized by the percent increase in area under the curve (IL-6, WBC) or average post-injection mean (IL-1Ra) for vaccine relative to placebo. Women who received chemotherapy had smaller vaccine responses than women who did not for both IL-6 (44% vs 78%, p <.001) and WBC (26% vs 40%, p <.001); IL-1ra response was not significantly moderated by chemotherapy. Women whose central adiposity was one standard deviation above the mean had smaller vaccine responses than women with average adiposity for IL-6 (33% vs 54%, p <.001), WBC (20% vs 30%, p <.001), and IL-1Ra (2.0% vs 3.2%, p <.001). Women with an average level of VO had smaller vaccine responses than women whose VO was one standard deviation above the mean for IL-6 (54% vs 73%, p <.001), WBC (30% vs 40%, p <.001), and IL-1Ra (3.2% vs. 4.1%, p = 0.01). Age and depression did not significantly moderate vaccine responses.

CONCLUSIONS

This study provided novel data on chemotherapy's longer-term adverse immune consequences. The data also have an important public health message: even relatively low levels of fitness can benefit the innate immune response to a vaccine.