Participant Eligibility and Enrollment
Approval was obtained from the Institutional Review Board at the Cleveland Clinic. Survivors were recruited from our comprehensive long-term clinic for survivors of pediatric and young adult cancer and stem cell transplantation. Survivors were required to be at least five years from completion of chemotherapy or stem cell infusion. Controls were a convenience sample recruited from members of patient’s families, clinic staff and other healthy volunteers. Survivors and controls were required to be between the age of 10 and 40 years at the time of enrollment, and must have refrained from using antibiotics in the preceding six months.