Longitudinal efficacy and toxicity of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in cancer patients treated with immunotherapy

Spiliopoulou, P. et al. (2023) Longitudinal efficacy and toxicity of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in cancer patients treated with immunotherapy. Cell Death and Disease, 14(1), 49. (doi: 10.1038/s41419-022-05548-4) (PMID:36670100) (PMCID:PMC9853486)

Abstract

Despite more than 2 years having elapsed since the onset of SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, a level of hesitation around increased SARS-CoV-2 vaccine toxicity in cancer patients receiving immunotherapy (IO) remains. This hesitation stems from the idea that IO agents could elicit an overwhelming immune stimulation post vaccination and therefore increase the risk of vaccine-related toxicity. The aim of our study was to explore serological responses to SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in patients treated with IO and describe the level of immune stimulation using parameters such as blood cytokines, autoantibody levels and immune related adverse events (irAEs) post vaccination. Fifty-one evaluable patients were enrolled in this longitudinal study. Absolute levels and neutralization potential of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies were not significantly different in the IO group compared to non-IO. Chemotherapy adversely affected seroconversion when compared to IO and/or targeted treatment. Following vaccination, the prevalence of grade ≥2 irAEs in patients treated with IO was not higher than the usual reported IO toxicity. We report, for the first time, that anti-SARS-CoV-2 vaccination, elicited the generation of five autoantibodies. The significantly increased autoantibodies were IgM autoantibodies against beta-2 glycoprotein (p = 0.02), myeloperoxidase (p = 0.03), nucleosome (p = 0.041), SPLUNC2 (p < 0.001) and IgG autoantibody against Myosin Heavy Chain 6 (MYH6) (p < 0.001). Overall, comprehensive analysis of a small cohort showed that co-administration of SARS-CoV-2 vaccine and IO is not associated with increased irAEs. Nevertheless, the detection of autoantibodies post anti-SARS-CoV-2 vaccination warrants further investigation (NCT03702309).

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: This study is performed under the auspice of the LIBERATE study (NCT03702309), which is an institutional liquid biopsy programme at the University Health Network supported by the BMO Financial Group Chair in Precision Cancer Genomics (Chair held by LLS).
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Spiliopoulou, Dr Pavlina
• Authors: Spiliopoulou, P., Janse van Rensburg, H. J., Avery, L., Kulasingam, V., Razak, A., Bedard, P., Hansen, A., Chruscinski, A., Wang, B., Kulikova, M., Chen, R., Speers, V., Nguyen, A., Lee, J., Coburn, B., Spreafico, A., and Siu, L. L.
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Cancer Sciences
• Journal Name: Cell Death and Disease
• Publisher: Springer Nature
• ISSN: 2041-4889
• ISSN (Online): 2041-4889
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2023 The Author(s)
• First Published: First published in Cell Death and Disease 14(1):49
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons license