Immune Response and Effects of COVID-19 Vaccination in Patients with Lung Cancer-COVID Lung Vaccine Study

• Published in: Cancers Vol. 15; no. 1; p. 137
• Main Authors: Hernandez, Ainhoa, Boigues, Marc, Felip, Eudald, Cucurull, Marc, Notario, Lucia, Pous, Anna, Torres, Pere, Benitez, Marta, Rodriguez, Marina, Quirant, Bibiana, Romeo, Margarita, Fuster, Daniel, Moran, Teresa
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 26.12.2022; MDPI
• Subjects: Adverse events; anti-spike antibodies; Cancer; Cancer therapies; Cancer vaccines; Chemotherapy; Coronaviruses; COVID-19 vaccines; Disease transmission; Drug therapy; Hematology; Immune response; Immunoglobulin G; Infections; Lung cancer; Medical prognosis; Morbidity; Mortality; Oncology; Oncology, Experimental; Patient outcomes; Patients; Population; SARS-CoV-2; Serology; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Steroids; Surveillance; vaccination immune response; Spain; lung cancer; SARS-CoV-2; anti-spike antibodies; vaccination immune response
• ISSN: 2072-6694; 2072-6694
• DOI: 10.3390/cancers15010137

Lung cancer patients represent a subgroup of special vulnerability in whom the SARS-CoV-2 infection could attain higher rates of morbidity and mortality. Therefore, those patients were recommended to receive SARS-CoV-2 vaccines once they were approved. However, little was known at that time regarding the degree of immunity developed after vaccination or vaccine-related adverse events, and more uncertainty involved the real need for a third dose. We sought to evaluate the immune response developed after vaccination, as well as the safety and efficacy of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines in a cohort of patients with lung cancer. Patients were identified through the Oncology/Hematology Outpatient Vaccination Program. Anti-Spike IgG was measured before any vaccine and at 3-6-, 6-9- and 12-15-month time points after the 2nd dose. Detailed clinical data were also collected. In total, 126 patients with lung cancer participated and received at least one dose of the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. At 3-6 months after 2nd dose, 99.1% of baseline seronegative patients seroconverted and anti-Spike IgG titers went from a median value of 9.45 to 720 UI/mL. At the 6-9-month time point, titers raised to a median value of 924 UI/mL, and at 12-15 months, after the boost dose, they reached a median value of 3064 UI/mL. Adverse events to the vaccine were mild, and no SARS- CoV-2 infection-related deaths were recorded. In this lung cancer cohort, COVID-19 vaccines were safe and effective irrespective of the systemic anticancer therapy. Most of the patients developed anti-Spike IgG after the second dose, and these titers were maintained over time with low infection and reinfection rates with a mild clinical course.