HONOLULU – Patients taking natalizumab showed similar or only slightly delayed humoral immune responses following vaccinations, compared with patients not taking the drug for relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis in a multicenter, randomized, open-label study.
Natalizumab (Tysabri) acts as an immunomodulator, which raised questions about its potential effects on patients’ responses to neoantigens and recall antigens. Previous studies have shown that some other biologic immunomodulatory drugs reduce antibody responses in patients, said Dr. Gabriel Pardo, director of the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation’s Multiple Sclerosis Center of Excellence, Oklahoma City.
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 Dr. Gabriel Pardo |
Dr. Pardo and his associates studied 30 patients who had been taking natalizumab (Tysabri) for 6 months to treat their multiple sclerosis and 30 others with the disease who had never taken the drug. All 60 patients received a single tetanus toxoid vaccination in order to assess memory antibody responses to a recall antigen. At least 2 weeks later, they also received three keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH) vaccinations in order to assess de novo antibody responses.
Overall, 27 patients in the control group and 24 in the natalizumab group completed the study. None stopped the drug or dropped out of the study because of drug-related side effects.
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