Expression of interleukin-2 receptor, CD25, on CD4 lymphocytes in response to varicella-zoster virus antigen among patients with malignancies immunized with live attenuated varicella vaccine.

Abstract

Varicella in an immunocompromised host is often serious or life threatening. A live attenuated varicella vaccine was developed in Japan. It has been reported that the varicella vaccine is safe and highly protective against severe varicella in children with leukemia and other malignancies. It is important to investigate the persistence of varicella-zoster virus (VZV)-specific cell-mediated immunity in patients with malignancies who have been immunized with varicella vaccine. Sixteen patients with malignancies and 11 controls had been immunized with attenuated live varicella vaccine. The duration from vaccination to the study ranged from 2 to 16 years (mean 10 years). Nineteen patients and 20 controls had experienced natural varicella infection. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from patients and controls were cultured with VZV antigen for 6 days and the percentage of cluster of differentiation antigen (CD)25 among CD4 lymphocytes was calculated by flow cytometry. The percentage of CD25-positive cells among CD4 lymphocytes significantly increased in response to the VZV antigen in vaccinated patients and patients with past natural varicella infection as observed in the controls. These data show that VZV-specific cell-mediated immunity is induced and persists in patients with malignancies after immunization with live varicella vaccine.