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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2017 May;42(5):329-334.
doi: 10.1097/RLU.0000000000001603.

Lymph Node Activation by PET/CT Following Vaccination With Licensed Vaccines for Human Papillomaviruses

Emily E Coates  1 , Pamela J Costner, Martha C Nason, Douglas M Herrin, Shielah Conant, Peter Herscovitch, Uzma N Sarwar, Lasonji Holman, Jillian Mitchell, Galina Yamshchikov, Richard A Koup, Barney S Graham, Corina M Millo, Julie E Ledgerwood; VRC 900 Study Team
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Lymph Node Activation by PET/CT Following Vaccination With Licensed Vaccines for Human Papillomaviruses

Emily E Coates et al. Clin Nucl Med. 2017 May.

Abstract

Background: While PET using F-FDG is most commonly used for imaging malignant tumors, vaccination is known to cause transient inflammation of lymph nodes inducing positive findings on F-FDG PET scans. The pattern, magnitude, and duration of lymph node activation following vaccination have not been clearly defined. Furthermore, the addition of adjuvants to vaccines can further enhance the immune response. The presented study was designed to define lymph node activation following administration of the Food and Drug Administration-licensed human papillomavirus vaccines, Cervarix and Gardasil, which contain similar antigens with different adjuvants.

Methods: Twenty-seven women aged 18 to 25 years were randomized to receive either Cervarix or Gardasil in the clinical trial VRC 900. Fifteen subjects participated in the PET/CT portion of the trial and received scans of lymph node activation at prevaccination and "1 week" (8-14 days) and "1 month" (23-36 days) after the first or third vaccination.

Results: PET/CT scans revealed that all vaccine recipients had ipsilateral axillary lymph node activity. Three of 4 Cervarix recipients also showed contralateral lymph node activity 1 month after the first vaccination. For both Cervarix and Gardasil, the SUV activity resolved over time, with activity extended up to day 37 after the first and third vaccinations.

Conclusions: Following intramuscular vaccination, there were no major differences between duration of uptake and intensity of SUV between Cervarix and Gardasil recipients in ipsilateral axillary lymph nodes. Contralateral node activation was detected up to 1 month after the first vaccination in Cervarix recipients only, possibly reflecting differences in vaccine adjuvant formulation.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest. The authors declare that we have no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
PET/CT scan of subject 019 (Cervarix®) ‘one month’ post first vaccination with contralateral head/neck node activation SUVmax 4.1 (arrow). Image is attenuation corrected (AC) and was acquired in a 5 minute frame 60 minutes post injection.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
PET/CT scan of subject 029 (Gardasil®) ‘one month’ posted first vaccination with ipsilateral axilla node activation SUVmax 8.8 (arrow). Image is attenuation corrected (AC) and was acquired in a 5 minute frame 60 minutes post injection.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Node activation over time following first and third vaccinations of Cervarix® and Gardasil®. A) SUV ipsilateral nodes, B) SUV contralateral nodes and C) SUVmax.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
PET/CT scan of subject 035 (Cervarix®) ‘one month’ post third vaccination with ipsilateral node activation SUVmax 1.7 (arrow). Image is attenuation corrected (AC) and was acquired in a 5 minute frame 60 minutes post injection
Figure 5.
Figure 5.
PET/CT scan of subject 031 (Gardasil®) ‘one month’ posted third vaccination with ipsilateral axilla node activation SUVmax 4.7 (arrow). Image is attenuation corrected (AC) and was acquired in a 5 minute frame 60 minutes post injection.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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