CD8+ T cells contribute to survival in COVID-19 patients with hematologic cancers

• Published in: Nature medicine Vol. 27; no. 7; pp. 1280 - 1289
• Main Authors: Bange, Erin M., Han, Nicholas A., Wileyto, Paul, Kim, Justin Y., Gouma, Sigrid, Robinson, James, Greenplate, Allison R., Hwee, Madeline A., Porterfield, Florence, Owoyemi, Olutosin, Naik, Karan, Zheng, Cathy, Galantino, Michael, Weisman, Ariel R., Ittner, Caroline A.G., Kugler, Emily M., Baxter, Amy E., Oniyide, Olutwatosin, Agyekum, Roseline S., Dunn, Thomas G., Jones, Tiffanie K., Giannini, Heather M., Weirick, Madison E., McAllister, Christopher M., Babady, N. Esther, Kumar, Anita, Widman, Adam J., DeWolf, Susan, Boutemine, Sawsan R., Roberts, Charlotte, Budzik, Krista R, Tollett, Susan, Wright, Carla, Perloff, Tara, Sun, Lova, Mathew, Divij, Giles, Josephine R., Oldridge, Derek A., Wu, Jennifer E., Alanio, Cécile, Adamski, Sharon, Garfall, Alfred L., Vella, Laura A, Kerr, Samuel J., Cohen, Justine V., Oyer, Randall A., Massa, Ryan, Maillard, Ivan P., Maxwell, Kara N., Reilly, John P., Maslak, Peter G., Vonderheide, Robert H., Wolchok, Jedd D., Hensley, Scott E., Wherry, E. John, Meyer, Nuala J., DeMichele, Angela M., Vardhana, Santosha A., Mamtani, Ronac, Huang, Alexander C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 20.05.2021
• ISSN: 1078-8956; 1546-170X
• DOI: 10.1038/s41591-021-01386-7

Cancer patients have high mortality from COVID-19, and the immune parameters that dictate clinical outcomes remain unknown. In a cohort of 100 cancer patients hospitalized for COVID-19, patients with hematologic cancers had higher mortality relative to solid cancers. In two additional cohorts, flow cytometric and serologic analyses demonstrated that solid cancer and non-cancer patients had a similar immune phenotype during acute COVID-19 whereas hematologic cancer patients had impairment of B cells and SARS-CoV-2-specific antibody responses. Despite the impaired humoral immunity and high mortality in hematologic cancer patients with COVID-19, those with a greater number of CD8 T cells had improved survival, including those treated with anti-CD20 therapy. Further, 77% of hematologic cancer patients had detectable SARS-CoV-2 specific T-cell responses. Thus, CD8 T cells may influence recovery from COVID-19 when humoral immunity is deficient. These observations suggest that CD8 T cell responses to vaccination might provide protection in hematologic cancer patients even in the setting of limited humoral responses.