ACR Meeting Abstracts

ACR Meeting Abstracts

  • Meetings
    • ACR Convergence 2024
    • ACR Convergence 2023
    • 2023 ACR/ARP PRSYM
    • ACR Convergence 2022
    • ACR Convergence 2021
    • ACR Convergence 2020
    • 2020 ACR/ARP PRSYM
    • 2019 ACR/ARP Annual Meeting
    • 2018-2009 Meetings
    • Download Abstracts
  • Keyword Index
  • Advanced Search
  • Your Favorites
    • Favorites
    • Login
    • View and print all favorites
    • Clear all your favorites
  • ACR Meetings

Abstract Number: 1997

Immunogenicity of Adjuvanted Herpes Zoster Subunit Vaccine in Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients Treated with Janus Kinase Inhibitors and Controls: Preliminary Results

Hanna Källmark1, Birgitta Gullstrand2, Johanna Nagel3, Jon Einarsson1, Göran Jönsson4, Fredrik Kahn5, Robin Kahn6, Anders Bangtsson2, Tomas Bergström7 and Meliha Kapetanovic1, 1Department of Clinical Sciences Lund, Section of Rheumatology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden and Skåne University Hospital Sweden., Lund, Sweden, 2Department of Rheumatology, Clinical Sciences, Lund University Sweden, Lund, Sweden, 3Lund University, Skåne University Hospital, Department of Clinical Sciences Lund, Rheumatology, Lund, Sweden, Lund, Sweden, 4Lund University, Skåne University Hospital, Department of Clinical Sciences Lund, Infection Medicine, Lund, Sweden, Lund, Sweden, 5Division of Infection Medicine, Department of Clinical Sciences, Lund University, Lund, Sweden, Lund, Sweden, 6Department of Clinical Sciences Lund, Section of Pediatrics, Lund University, Lund, Sweden; Wallenberg Centre of Molecular Medicine, Lund University, Lund, Sweden, 7Department of Infectious Diseases, Section for Clinical Virology, Institute of Biomedicine, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, Gothenburg, Sweden

Meeting: ACR Convergence 2020

Keywords: Comorbidity, Infection, rheumatoid arthritis

  • Tweet
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • Click to print (Opens in new window) Print
Session Information

Date: Monday, November 9, 2020

Title: RA – Treatments I: Maximizing Health in RA (1993–1997)

Session Type: Abstract Session

Session Time: 10:00AM-10:50AM

Background/Purpose: Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are at increased risk of contracting herpes zoster (HZ) and treatment with JAnus Kinase inhibitors (JAKi) further adds on to that risk. A novel subunit vaccine against HZ (HZ/su; Shingrix) composed of VZV glycoprotein E (gE) and adjuvant system AS01B has recently been licensed. The HZ/su vaccine has been shown safe and effective in healthy elderly but data on patients with rheumatic disease are scarce. The objective of this study was to investigate the antibody responses to the HZ/su vaccine in RA patients treated with JAKi and controls.

Methods: RA patients at the rheumatology outpatient department, Skåne University Hospital, Lund, Sweden, fulfilling the ACR87 criteria and receiving JAKi as monotherapy or in combination with other disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) and individuals ³18 years without known rheumatic disease and not receiving immunosuppressive treatment for other conditions served as controls. All participants were immunized with two intramuscular doses of 50 mg HZ/su vaccine administered at least two months apart. Blood was sampled prior to first and 4-6 weeks after the second vaccine dose. ELISA using varicella zoster virus (VZV) glycoprotein E (gE) as the antigen was employed to measure anti-gE levels (1). Results are presented as optical density (OD). A positive antibody response was defined as a difference of ³1.2 in OD between the post- and pre-vaccination sera. The difference between ODs before and after vaccination among patients and controls separately were calculated using Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Chi2 test was used to compare % of individuals with positive antibody response between the two groups.

Results: Data from 40 RA patients (mean age 62.3 years; 77.5% female, mean disease duration 16 years) treated with JAKi and 20 controls (mean age 61.5 years and 70% female) were analysed. Compared to prevaccination sera, OD levels increased significantly in both patients and controls (p< 0.001). Mean changes in anti-gE antibody OD between post- and prevaccination sera were +1.8 and +2.6 for patients and controls respectively (Figure1). Positive humoral responses (delta OD³1.2) were observed in 75% of patients and 100% of controls (p=0.014). The majority of patients reported mild to moderate vaccine related side effects (pain and redness at the injection site, headache, fever for a few days) which resolved without any treatment. In total, 3 patients and 0 controls  withdrew from the study prior to the second vaccine dose, 2 of these due to adverse events (diarrhoea, joint and muscle pain) and are not included in these preliminary results. No patient experienced worsening or flare of RA. No case of HZ has been reported yet (up to 15 months after start of enrolment in the study).

Conclusion: Conclusion: These preliminary results show satisfactory serological responses and acceptable tolerability of two doses HZ/su vaccine in RA patients treated with JAKi known to be at a particularly increased risk of HZ.

Reference

  • Thomsson E, Persson L, Grahn A, et al. Recombinant glycoprotein E produced in mammalian cells in large-scale as an antigen for varicella-zoster-virus serology. J Virol Methods. 2011;175(1):53‐59.


Disclosure: H. Källmark, None; B. Gullstrand, None; J. Nagel, None; J. Einarsson, None; G. Jönsson, None; F. Kahn, Hansa Biopharma, 1, Piereis Pharmaceuticals Inc, 1, Gilead Sciences Inc, 1, ChemoCentryx Inc, 1; R. Kahn, None; A. Bangtsson, None; T. Bergström, None; M. Kapetanovic, Pfizer, 2.

To cite this abstract in AMA style:

Källmark H, Gullstrand B, Nagel J, Einarsson J, Jönsson G, Kahn F, Kahn R, Bangtsson A, Bergström T, Kapetanovic M. Immunogenicity of Adjuvanted Herpes Zoster Subunit Vaccine in Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients Treated with Janus Kinase Inhibitors and Controls: Preliminary Results [abstract]. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2020; 72 (suppl 10). https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/immunogenicity-of-adjuvanted-herpes-zoster-subunit-vaccine-in-rheumatoid-arthritis-patients-treated-with-janus-kinase-inhibitors-and-controls-preliminary-results/. Accessed .
  • Tweet
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • Click to print (Opens in new window) Print

« Back to ACR Convergence 2020

ACR Meeting Abstracts - https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/immunogenicity-of-adjuvanted-herpes-zoster-subunit-vaccine-in-rheumatoid-arthritis-patients-treated-with-janus-kinase-inhibitors-and-controls-preliminary-results/

Advanced Search

Your Favorites

You can save and print a list of your favorite abstracts during your browser session by clicking the “Favorite” button at the bottom of any abstract. View your favorites »

All abstracts accepted to ACR Convergence are under media embargo once the ACR has notified presenters of their abstract’s acceptance. They may be presented at other meetings or published as manuscripts after this time but should not be discussed in non-scholarly venues or outlets. The following embargo policies are strictly enforced by the ACR.

Accepted abstracts are made available to the public online in advance of the meeting and are published in a special online supplement of our scientific journal, Arthritis & Rheumatology. Information contained in those abstracts may not be released until the abstracts appear online. In an exception to the media embargo, academic institutions, private organizations, and companies with products whose value may be influenced by information contained in an abstract may issue a press release to coincide with the availability of an ACR abstract on the ACR website. However, the ACR continues to require that information that goes beyond that contained in the abstract (e.g., discussion of the abstract done as part of editorial news coverage) is under media embargo until 10:00 AM ET on November 14, 2024. Journalists with access to embargoed information cannot release articles or editorial news coverage before this time. Editorial news coverage is considered original articles/videos developed by employed journalists to report facts, commentary, and subject matter expert quotes in a narrative form using a variety of sources (e.g., research, announcements, press releases, events, etc.).

Violation of this policy may result in the abstract being withdrawn from the meeting and other measures deemed appropriate. Authors are responsible for notifying colleagues, institutions, communications firms, and all other stakeholders related to the development or promotion of the abstract about this policy. If you have questions about the ACR abstract embargo policy, please contact ACR abstracts staff at [email protected].

Wiley

  • Online Journal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Permissions Policies
  • Cookie Preferences

© Copyright 2025 American College of Rheumatology