Immune Response to SARS-CoV-2 Vaccination in Cancer Patients: A Prospective Study

• Published in: Curēus (Palo Alto, CA) Vol. 15; no. 4; p. e37014
• Main Authors: Caramujo, Cecília, Gomes, Inês, Fraga, Teresa, Paulo, Judy, Broco, Sofia, Cunha, Nuno, Madeira, Pedro, Carvalho, Teresa, Teixeira, Margarida, Sousa, Gabriela
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Cureus Inc 01.04.2023; Cureus
• Subjects: Breast cancer; Cancer therapies; Chemotherapy; Coronaviruses; COVID-19 vaccines; Cyclin-dependent kinases; Epidemiology/Public Health; Growth factors; Gynecology; Hospice care; Immunotherapy; Influenza; Kinases; Monoclonal antibodies; Mortality; Oncology; Other; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Tumors; Vectors (Biology); covid-19; cancer; chemotherapy; sars-cov-2; immune-response
• ISSN: 2168-8184; 2168-8184
• DOI: 10.7759/cureus.37014

Introduction Cancer patients on active treatment are at increased risk of developing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), making effective immunization of the utmost importance. However, the effectiveness of vaccination in this population is still unclear. This study aims to evaluate the response against COVID-19 in a cohort of patients with active cancer under immunosuppressive therapy. Methods This was a prospective, cross-sectional, single-center study that included patients with cancer under immunosuppressive therapy vaccinated against COVID-19 between April and September 2021. Exclusion criteria were: previous known severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, single-dose vaccine or incomplete vaccination scheme. Immunoglobulin G (IgG) anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody levels were assessed using 35.2 binding antibody units (BAU)/mL as the positive cut-off. Assessments were performed 14-31 days after the first and second dose and three months after the second dose. Results A total of 103 patients were included. The median age was 60 years. Most patients were being treated for gastrointestinal cancer (n=38, 36.9%), breast cancer (n=33, 32%) or head and neck cancer (n=18, 17.5%). At evaluation, 72 patients (69.9%) were being treated with palliative intent. The majority were being treated with chemotherapy (CT) alone (57.3%). At the first assessment, levels of circulating SARS-CoV-2 IgG consistent with seroconversion were present in 49 patients (47.6%). At the time of the second assessment, 91% (n=100) achieved seroconversion. Three months after the second dose, 83% (n=70) maintained levels of circulating SARS-CoV-2 IgG consistent with seroconversion. In this study, no SARS-CoV-2 infection was reported in the study population. Conclusions Our findings suggest that this group of patients had a satisfactory COVID-19 immunization response. Although promising, this study should be replicated on a wider scale in order to validate these findings.