Tuesday, 26 April 2022

First study examining mental illness and self-harm events across 26 cancer types

 Recently published findings in Nature Medicine studied risk of unnatural death following self-harm amongst 459,542 cancer patients diagnosed with 26 different types of cancer.  Due to psychological distress and depression experienced by cancer patients, the study authors concluded that the self-harm "prevalence ratio is higher among younger individuals, as they are more likely to be referred for specialized psychosocial cancer care."  In particular, the study further revealed the patients with co-occurring were mostly likely to cause self-harm to themselves during the first 12 months of a cancer diagnosis. 

To read more about this study, click here.  

Source mentioned: Chang WH, Lai AG. Cumulative burden of psychiatric disorders and self-harm across 26 adult cancers. Nature Medicine; Published online 28 March 2022. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-022-01740-3

Monday, 18 April 2022

NGS is effective in identifying actionable genetic alterations for investigational targeted therapies in paediatric and young adult patients with refractory cancers

A recent study published by the Texas Children's Cancer and Hematology Center recently published findings regarding "the feasibility of a nationwide screening and centralized testing Protocol to select patients with tumours harbouring actionable alterations for enrolment in clinical studies of molecularly targeted therapies."   Following completed testing for 94.7% of tumours, actionable alternations were detected in 31.5% of the first 1,000 tumours screened, with "treatment arm assignment and enrolment occurring in 28.4% and 13.1% of patients." 

To read more about this study, click here. 

Source mentioned: Parsons DW, Janeway KA, Patton DR, et al. Actionable Tumor Alterations and Treatment Protocol Enrollment of Pediatric and Young Adult Patients With Refractory Cancers in the National Cancer Institute–Children's Oncology Group Pediatric MATCH Trial. JCO; Published online 30 March 2022. DOI: 10.1200/JCO.21.02838

Tuesday, 12 April 2022

Children of patients with cancer more likely to experience medical financial hardship and emotional and educational challenges following parental diagnosis

 A new study conducted by researchers at the American Cancer Society indicates that children "living in families with a history of parental cancer were more likely to face financial, emotional, and educational challenges."  According to Dr. Zhiyuan Zheng, lead author of the study, 3.4% of children between 5-17 are living in families with a parental history of cancer.  As a result, these children may miss school and may be less likely to receive medical care due to lack of family financial resources.  Further, the study states that these children "were particularly vulnerable and began to experience psychosocial and behavioral challenges that often went unaddressed." 

To read more about this study, click here. 

Source mentioned: Zheng Z, Zhao J, Nogueira L, Han X, Fan Q, Yabroff KR. Associations of Parental Cancer With School Absenteeism, Medical Care Unaffordability, Health Care Use, and Mental Health Among Children. JAMA Pediatr. Published online April 11, 2022. doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2022.0494

 


Wednesday, 6 April 2022

Benefit of adjuvant capecitabine after curative resection of biliary tract cancer maintained with a long-term analysis

Results from BILAP, a 5-year study on survival data conducted at the UCL Cancer Institute in London, U.L. confirmed "the benefit of capecitabine as adjuvant therapy after surgical resection of biliary tract cancer...and should be considered as the standard of care."   Conducted between March 15 2006 - December 4, 2014 on 447 patients (of whom 223 were assigned to the capecitabine group for curative intent), indicated a period of 24.3 months for median recurrence-free survival for patients prescribed capecitabine compared to 17.4 months for those in the observation group.  

To read more about the BILAP study, click here. 

Source mentioned: Bridgewater J, Fletcher P, Palmer DH, et al. Long-Term Outcomes and Exploratory Analyses of the Randomized Phase III BILCAP Study. Journal of Clinical Oncology; Published online 22 March 2022. DOI: 10.1200/JCO.21.02568

Wednesday, 30 March 2022

Tumour budding demonstrates independent prognostic value for disease-free and overall survival in patients with stage III colon cancer

 Joint research conducted in Paris at the Department of Pathology, Sorbonne University, and the Department of Oncology, Georges Pompidou Hospital, indicates that the use of tumour budding as a prognostic biomarker in colon cancer could influence disease-free and overall survival for patients diagnosed at stage III.  Defined as "a single cancer cell of up to four cancer cells at the tumour invasive margin", tumour budding was applied to 1,048 stage III colon cancer patients in the joint Paris post-hoc study.  While the study authors acknowledge that further research is required, their findings do support the notion that "tumour budding seems to provide additional and clinically relevant prognostic information beside risk groups and Immunoscore." 

To learn more about this study, click here. 

Source mentioned: Basile D, Broudin C, Emile JF, et al. Tumor budding is an independent prognostic factor in stage III colon cancer patients: A post-hoc analysis of the IDEA-France phase III trial (PRODIGE-GERCOR). Annals of Oncology; Published online 16 March 2022. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annonc.2022.03.002

Tuesday, 22 March 2022

COVID-19 & cancer: future of the pandemic [YouTube video presentation]

Dr. Otis Brawley, a renowned cancer control expert from Johns Hopkins University recently held a question and answer session discussing "the current state of the COVID-19 pandemic and what cancer survivors need to know going forward to best protect themselves."  Dr. Brawley's research is focused on cancer screening strategies and lifestyle reduction programs, including "striving to close racial, economic, and social disparities in the prevention, detection, and treatment of cancer in the United States and worldwide." 

To view the complete session, click here. 

Wednesday, 16 March 2022

Survivors of childhood, adolescent, and young adult cancer not at increased risk of testing positive for COVID-19, nor for serious sequelae when contracting infection

A recent study conducted in Ontario explored population-based registries to identify all 5-year survivors of childhood cancer between 0-17 years of age, as well as 6 common cancers afflicting young adults between 15-21 years old.  Findings indicated that "survivors were not at increased risk of receiving a positive COVID-19 test...and were more likely to be fully vaccinated."  Further, there was no increased risk to survivors in the emergency department or who needed to be admitted, and "no survivor experienced intensive care unit admission or died after COVID-19 infection. 

To read more about this study, click here. 

Source mentioned: Gupta S, Sutradhar R, Alexander S, et al. Risk of COVID-19 Infections and of Severe Complications Among Survivors of Childhood, Adolescent, and Young Adult Cancer: A Population-Based Study in Ontario, Canada. JCO; Published online 28 February 2022. DOI: 10.1200/JCO.21.02592

Monday, 7 March 2022

Humoral response to the third dose of the MRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine in a large cohort of patients with cancer

 A recently published letter to the editor in Annals of Oncology, authored by Dr. Vincenzo Di Noia from the Regina Elena National Cancer Institute in Rome, Italy, "described the serological response to the third dose of the BNT162b2 mENA COVID-19 vaccine in a large cohort of patients with cancer."  407 patients received a third dose of BN1162b3 between September - November 2021.  366 (89.9%) of patients were on active anticancer treatment 28 days before BNT162b2 was administered.  Median age of patients was 67, with breast (28.5%) and lung (19.9%) identified as the most common cancer types.  402 (98.8%) of patients studied "had a positive serological status after the third vaccine dose." 

To read more about this study, click here. 

Study mentioned: Di Noia V, Pimpinelli F, Renna D, et al. Potentiation of humoral response to BNT162b2 vaccine after the third dose in patients with solid cancer. Annals of Oncology; Published online 21 February 2022. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annonc.2022.02.006

Monday, 28 February 2022

Higher risk of major adverse cardiovascular events and cancers with tofacitinib

 

During the recently held Pharmacovigilance Risk Assessment Conference (PRAC), the European Medicines Agency (EMA) revealed results from a study indicating that patients "taking tofacitinib for rheumatoid arthritis and who were at risk of heart disease were more likely to experience a major cardiovascular problem...and had a higher risk of developing cancer."  In 3 nearly equivalent patient groups (1455 patients received 5mg of tofacitinib twice daily; 1456 received 10mg of tofacitinib twice daily; 1451 received a TNF inhibitor), incidences of cancer were higher (2.4% for 5mg; 4.2% for 10mg) for those administered tofacitinib vs. 2.5% who received a TNF inhibitor. 

To learn more about this study, click here.  

Source mentioned: Ytterberg SR, Bhatt DL, Mikuls TR, et al. Cardiovascular and Cancer Risk with Tofacitinib in Rheumatoid Arthritis. N Engl J Med 2022;386:316-326.

Wednesday, 16 February 2022

Blog postings will resume week of March 2, 2022

 To all Grey Horizon readers, 

Please note that blog postings will resume the week of March 2, 2022. 

Thank you, take care, and stay well.  

Greater severity of adverse events in women across multiple anticancer treatment modalities

 Results of 202 phase II and III clinical trials conducted between 1989 and 2019 on 23, 296 cancer patients has revealed "greater severity of both symptomatic adverse events and haematology adverse events in women across multiple treatment modalities."  Researchers at the SWOG Cancer Research Network determined that of the 23, 296 patients studies (8,838/37.9% women and 14,458/62.1% men) female patients "had a 34% increased risk of adverse events [across various cancer therapies administered] compared to men."  

To learn more about this study, click here. 

Source mentioned: Unger JM, Vaidya R, Albain KS, et al. Sex Differences in Risk of Severe Adverse Events in Patients Receiving Immunotherapy, Targeted Therapy, or Chemotherapy in Cancer Clinical Trials. JCO; Published online 4 February 2022. DOI: 10.1200/JCO.21.02377

Tuesday, 8 February 2022

Trial alert from the PACIFIC study: Robust and sustained survival benefit with consolidation durvalumab after concurrent chemoradiotherapy for unresectable, stage III non-small-cell lung cancer

 Recently released results on survival analyses from the PACIFIC study focusing on the benefits of durvalumab in patients with unresectable, stage iii non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and no cancer progression following concurrent chemoradiotherapy treatment indicated that "42.9% of patients randomly assigned to durvalumab remain alive at 5 years and 33.1^ of patients remain alive and free of disease progression. 

Click here to read more about this study, the first to "demonstrate a survival advantage with immune checkpoint inhibitor in a curative-intent setting."

Source mentioned: Spigel DR, Faivre-Finn C, Gray JE, et al. Five-Year Survival Outcomes From the PACIFIC Trial: Durvalumab After Chemoradiotherapy in Stage III Non–Small-Cell Lung Cancer. JCO; Published online 2 February 2022. DOI: 10.1200/JCO.21.01308

Wednesday, 2 February 2022

Personalized immunotherapy for metastatic breast cancer

 Results from an ongoing clinical trial conducted at the National Cancer Institute's (NCI) Center for Cancer Research, has found that "many people with metastatic breast cancer can mount an immune reaction against their tumors."  The clinical trial conducted on 42 women with metastatic breast cancer showed that 67% (28 of the 42 trial participants) had an immune response towards their cancer affliction.  As such, the immune reaction approach was applied to treat 6 of the 28 women, "half of whom experienced measurable tumor shrinkage."  

To read more about the results of this trial, click here. 

Source mentioned: Zacharakis N, Lutfi LM, Seitter SJ, et al. Breast Cancers Are Immungenic: Immunologic Analyses and a Phase II Pilot Clinical Trial Using Mutation-Reactive Autologous Lymphocytes. February 1, 2022. JCO. DOI: 10.1200/JCO.21.02170.

Tuesday, 25 January 2022

Artificial intelligence for diagnosis and Gleason grading of prostate cancer

 The Prostate Cancer Grade Assessment (PANDA) Challenge, a global artificial intelligence competition, recently published findings of their "blueprint for evaluating AI [artificial intelligence] algorithms in digital pathology" for prostate cancer patients.  In the PANDA report, prostate tumours were categorized into 5 grade groups, based on the Gleason growth patterns of tumour tissue.  Following the application of AI to grade 10,616 digitized prostate biopsies, "the algorithms achieved agreements of 0.862...[compared with] 0.868 with expert uropathologists." 

To read more about the PANDA Challenge, click here. 

Source mentioned: Bulten W, Kartasalo K, Chen P-HC, et al. Artificial intelligence for diagnosis and Gleason grading of prostate cancer: the PANDA challenge. Nature Medicine; Published online 13 January 2022. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-021-01620-2

Tuesday, 18 January 2022

Breakthrough SARS-CoV-2 infection following COVID-19 vaccination in patients with cancer

 Research conducted by the COVID-19 and Cancer Consortium, the results of which were recently published in the Annals of Oncology maintains that cancer patients who contract COVID-19 despite being vaccinated "remain susceptible to severe outcomes."  Dr. Toni K. Choueri of the Department of Medical Oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, emphasizes that "vaccination of close contacts, masking, boosters, and social distancing are needed to protect patients with cancer", particularly if cancer patients come into contact with members of the public that are unvaccinated. 

Click here to read more about this study, believed to be the first to evaluate clinical characteristics and outcomes of cancer patients being infected by COVID-19 after vaccination.    

Source mentioned: Schmidt AL, Labaki C, Hsu C-Y, et al. COVID-19 vaccination and breakthrough infections in patients with cancer. Annals of Oncology; Published online 24 December 2021. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annonc.2021.12.006

Monday, 10 January 2022

Dual inhibition of LAG-3 and PD-1 in patients with previously untreated metastatic or unresectable melanoma

 Findings from a recent phase II/III trial, RELATIVITY-047, evaluating "dual inhibition of LAG-3 and PD-1 using a new combination of LAG-3-blocking antibody relatlimab and PD-1 blocking antibody nivolumab..." were published by the Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in The New England Journal of Medicine.  A cell surface molecule expressed on immune cells, LAG-3 "negatively regulates T-cell proliferation and effector T-cell function."  The RELATIVITY-047 study evaluated relatlimib and nivolumab together as a fixed dose regimen compared to patients receiving only nivolumab alone over a 4 week period in patents with untreated metastatic or unresectable melanoma.  Progression free survival was 10.1 months in patients receiving the relatlimab-nivolumab combination vs 4.6 months for those only being administered nivolumab. 

To read more about this trial, click here. 

Sources mentioned

Wednesday, 5 January 2022

Lung cancer leading cause of cancer death in Canada

A recent study conducted by Health Canada as part of the Canadian Health Measures Survey has revealed that lung cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer and leading cause of cancer death in Canada.  While exact figures have not been tabulated, it is estimated that 21,000 Canadians will have died from lung cancer in 2021, more than colorectal, pancreatic and breast cancers combined.  The study further reports that "about half of all lung cancers are diagnosed at stage IV, at which point survival is extremely low: five-year survival is 4%."   

To read more about the findings from this report, click here 



Monday, 20 December 2021

Happy Holidays - Grey Horizon posts will resume week of January 4, 2022

 Dear all Grey Horizon readers, 

Thank you for your support over the past year.  Blog postings will resume the week of January 4, 2022. 

Happy Holidays and best wishes for a healthy New Year! 




Immunogenicity of COVID-19 MRNA-based vaccine in patients with actively treated solid malignancies

 Results from the Vax-On study of mRNA-BNT 162b2 immunogenicity in cancer patients with solid malignancies receiving treatment indicates that "seroconversion response...remains adequate even 5 months after the second COVID-19 vaccine dose."  According to Dr. Fabrizio Nelli of the Department of Oncology and Haematology at the Hospital of Belcolle in Viterbo, Italy, provide evidence in favour of cancer patients receiving a third dose of vaccine.  

To read more about the Vax-On study, click here. 

Source mentioned: Nelli F, Fabbri A, Onorato A, et al. Six-months immunogenicity of COVID-19 mRNA-BNT162b2 vaccine in actively treated cancer patients: Updated results of the Vax-On study. Annals of Oncology; Published online 9 December 2021. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annonc.2021.12.001

Monday, 13 December 2021

Two years of adjuvant Palbociclib added to endocrine therapy does not improve outcomes in early breast cancer

 Results of a phase III trial, the Palbociclib CoLlaborative Adjuvant Study (PALLAS), presented at the 2021 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS), December 7-10, 2021, "does not show significant improvements in survival endpoints for the addition of Palbociclib to adjuvant endocrine therapy over endocrine therapy alone in patients with early hormone receptor-positive, HER-2 negative breast cancer."  Further, the trial unveiled that nearly half (44.9%) of patients were not able to complete the full 2 years of Palbociclib treatment due to neutropenia.  

To read more about the results of this trial, click here. 

Study mentioned: Gnant M, Dueck AC, Frantal S, et al. Adjuvant Palbociclib for Early Breast Cancer: The PALLAS Trial Results (ABCSG-42/AFT-05/BIG-14-03). JCO; Published online 7 December 2021. DOI: 10.1200/JCO.21.02554

Tuesday, 7 December 2021

Clinical trial alert: Significant interaction between chemotherapy benefit and menopausal status in invasive disease-free survival

 

Findings of the RxPONDER clinical trial, a study led by Dr. Kevin Kalinsky of the Winship Cancer Institute at Emory University in Atlanta, GA, USA were recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine.  RxPONDER (a clinical trial RX for positive node, endocrine responsive breast cancer), "randomly assigned participants [~5000 women] with hormone receptor-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer, 1 to 3 positive axillary lymph nodes (nodal stage N1), and a recurrence score of 25 or lower to endocrine therapy only or to chemoendocrine therapy."  After a period of 5 years, the study determined that the relative chemotherapy benefit did not increase as the recurrence score increased. 

To read more about this trial, click here. 

Study mentioned: Kalinsky K, Barlow WE, Gralow JR, et al. 21-Gene Assay to Inform Chemotherapy Benefit in Node-Positive Breast Cancer. NEJM; Published online 1 December 2021. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa2108873

Monday, 29 November 2021

Clinical trial alert: Long-term outcomes from the Checkmate 067 study patients with advanced melanoma

Data collected over 6.5 years fro the CheckMate 067 on clinical outcomes with nivolumab plus ipillimumab or nivolumab vs. impillimumab in patients with advanced melanoma, was recently reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.  Overall survival rates (with minimum 6.5 year follow-up was "72.1, 36.9, and 19.9 months in the combination, nivolumab, and ipillimumab groups, respectively."  For patients who discontinued treatment, median treatment-free survival was 27.6, 2.3, and 1.9 months. 

To learn more about CheckMate 067, click here.  

Study mentioned: Wolchok JD, Chiarion-Sileni V, Gonzalez R, et al. Long-Term Outcomes With Nivolumab Plus Ipilimumab or Nivolumab Alone Versus Ipilimumab in Patients With Advanced Melanoma. JCO; Published online 24 November 2021. DOI: 10.1200/JCO.21.02229

Tuesday, 23 November 2021

Breast cancer: the role of exercise

 A recent post on Medical News Today re-emphasized the importance of regular exercise for breast cancer patients.  Benefits include increased survival, reduced risk of recurrence, improved mood and energy, improved treatment tolerance, and improved physical function.  The post also goes several tips on starting an exercise routine, namely discussing exercise plans with a medical care team, and referral to a physical therapist.  

To read more, click here. 

Monday, 15 November 2021

New trial alert: drug combination helps children with acute promyelocytic leukemia avoid conventional chemotherapy

The results of a new clinical trial has determined that "the combination of all-trans retinoic acid, ...a metabolite of vitamin A and arsenic trioxide is highly effective in children with standard- and high-risk acute promyelocytic leukemia, or APL."   The trial, conducted on 154 children between 1-22 years old who were recently diagnosed with standard or high-risk APL, showed 2-year event-free survival rates of 96%-98%, with fewer than 10% experiencing severe side effects. 

To learn more about this trial, click here. 

Study mentioned: Kutny MA, Alonzo TA, Abla O, et al. Assessment of Arsenic Trioxide and All-trans Retinoic Acid for the Treatment of Pediatric Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia A Report From the Children’s Oncology Group AAML1331 Trial. JAMA Oncology November 11, 2021. DOI: 10.1001/jamaoncol.2021.5206.

Tuesday, 9 November 2021

New trial alert: Ibrutinib improves survival for younger people with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma

 New analysis of a phase 3 trial has unveiled that adding Ibrutinib (Imbruvica) to chemotherapy can improve survival rates for patients younger than 60 with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL).  DLBCL is the most common type of lymphoma, occurring in 40% of lymphoma cases.  According to Dr Louis M. Staudt, chief of the Lymphoid Malignancies Branch at the National Cancer Institute, "for years we have only had chemotherapy and rituximab to offer these patients...Now, we hope that adding Ibrutinib to current therapy may give younger patients a better chance of surviving this aggressive cancer." 

To read more about this trial, click here. 

Source mentioned: Wilson WH, Wright G, Huang DA, et al. Effect of ibrutinib with R-CHOP chemotherapy in genetic subtypes of DLBCL. Cancer Cell November 4, 2021. DOI: 10.1016/j.ccell.2021.10.006.








Thursday, 4 November 2021

Cure probability models for evaluation of patients with a previous cancer diagnosis for solid organ transplantation

 A recently published study conducted in the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, United States reported on the use of statistical models to calculate cure probabilities for 17 different types of cancer.  These models were applied to patients "with a previous cancer who underwent solid organ transplantation to estimate the probability that those patients had been cured of their cancer at the time of transplantation." Study results shows that of the 5,425 patients studies who went through solid organ translation, the median cure probability at transplantation was 94%. 

To read more about this study, click here. 

Study mentioned: Engels EA, Haber G, Hart A, et al. Predicted Cure and Survival Among Transplant Recipients With a Previous Cancer Diagnosis. JCO; Published online 22 October 2021. DOI:10.1200/JCO.21.01195

Monday, 25 October 2021

Research indicates female representation at top of oncology field at a plateau

Recently published results from the ESMO Women for Oncology Monitoring and Authorship Studies has revealed that "women continue to be underrepresented in leadership positions despite making up an increasing proportion of the oncology workforce."  Data collected from 2017-2019 from several worldwide oncology societies scrutinized the number of women as board members or presidents of oncology organizations/societies, as well as representation at cancer conferences.  The data has revealed 37% of speaker at oncology congresses are women, while 36% of females are presented on the boards of professional organizations.  In addition, 37-41% of women are lead authors in cancer publications.  

To read more about this study, click here. 

Studies mentioned: 

  1. A.S. Berghoff, C. Sessa, J.C.-H. Yang, Z. Tsourti, J. Tsang, J. Tabernero, S. Peters, H. Linardou, A. Letsch, J. Haanen, E. Garralda, M.C. Garassino, A.J.S. Furness, E. Felip, G. Dimopoulou, U. Dafni, S.P. Choo, S. Banerjee, J. Bajpai, A.A. Adjei and P. Garrido. Female leadership in oncology—has progress stalled? Data from the ESMO W4O authorship and monitoring studies. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esmoop.2021.100281
  2. E. Hofstädter-Thalmann, U. Dafni, T. Allen, D. Arnold, S. Banerjee, G. Curigliano, E. Garralda, M.C. Garassino, J. Haanen, C. Robert, C. Sessa, Z. Tsourti, P. Zygoura, S. Peters. Report on the status of women occupying leadership roles in oncology. https://doi.org/10.1136/esmoopen-2018-000423

Monday, 18 October 2021

Why cancer patients and caregivers need paid leave

A recently conducted survey by the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship (NCCS) in the United States concludes that cancer patients and caregivers should receive paid time away from work during the course of their cancer treatment or providing care to loved ones. According to survey results, 10-21% of survey respondents quit their jobs while undergoing cancer treatment, while 40% of survivors made financial sacrifices.  

To read more about this survey, click here.  







Tuesday, 12 October 2021

Third dose of BNT162b2 is safe; improves immunity against COVID-19 in patients with solid tumours

Researchers at the University of Arizona Cancer Center recently unveiled data on a trial comparing "serological and cellular immune response after...BNT162b2 vaccination of patients with solid tumours on active cytotoxic chemotherapy compared to healthy controls..."  The study background informs readers that antibody responses decline after a first dose of the mRNA vaccine for patients with solid or haematological tumours, but markedly improve after a second dose.  20 patients with gastrointestinal and breast cancer diagnoses from the original study cohort agreed to a third dose of the mRNA vaccine. "AT one week after a third immunization, 16 participants demonstrated a median threefold increase in neutralizing antibody responses." 

To read more about this study, click here. 

Study mentioned: Shroff RT, Chalasani P, Wei R, et al. Immune responses to two and three doses of the BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine in adults with solid tumors. Nature Medicine; Published online 30 September 2021. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-021-01542-z

Monday, 4 October 2021

Patients treated with chemotherapy and B cell-targeting agents show impaired serological response to COVID-19 vaccination

 

A recently completed cohort study conducted in Austria and Italy on patients with haemato-oncological diseases indicates that "patients with cancer are able to develop SARS-CoV-2 specific antibodies."  The study, conducted on 595 patients being treated for haematological and solid malignant tumours, compared to 58 healthcare workers acting as controls, showed that in both cohort, "anti-S antibody levels were higher in fully vaccinated patients coparents with patients who received 1 vaccine dose." 

To read more about this study, click here. 

Source mentioned: Mair MJ, Berger JM, Berghoff AS, et al. Humoral Immune Response in Hematooncological Patients and Health Care Workers Who Received SARS-CoV-2 Vaccinations. JAMA Oncology; Published online 30 September 2021. doi:10.1001/jamaoncol.2021.5437