Extra dose of COVID vaccine beneficial to patients with hematologic cancers

Immunocompromised patients with hematologic cancers get significant benefit from a third mRNA-1273 (Moderna) vaccine. They not only get improved SARS-CoV-2 antibody concentrations but also an improvement in the neutralizing capacity of antibodies against wild-type SARS-CoV-2 virus and variants of concern. According to a study out of the Netherlands in JAMA Oncology, the third dose led to antibody concentrations comparable to those in healthy individuals after getting a standard two-dose mRNA-1273 vaccine. The study was conducted because third dose vaccination has become common in patients with hematologic cancers because of their reduced SARS-CoV-2 seroconversion rates and lowered COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness. But more study has been needed. Read: Music with a grove can help with executive function The cohort study included 723 study participants and comprised a population with over 16 types of hematologic cancers. Of these, 584 received a third dose mRNA-1273 vaccine five months after completing their second dose. A total of 104 patients did not receive a third vaccination or deferred it. Forty-six patients (7.9%) were not included in the final analyses because they had been infected with SARS-CoV-2. Five months after patients completed the standard 2-dose mRNA-1273 schedule, spike subunit 1 serum immunoglobulin (S1-IgG) concentrations in participants had dropped to a median of 92.5 BAU/mL – only 195 of 575 (33.9%) patients maintained S1-IgG concentration of 300 BAU/mL or greater. Getting a third mRNA-1273 vaccination tended to lead to a significant increase in S1-IgG concentration. “Seroconversion rates improved from 68.9% (399 of 579) to 78.8% (443 of 562), and 378 of 562 (67.3%) patients obtained S1-IgG concentration of 300 BAU/mL or greater. In 66 of 94 (70.2%) low-responder patients (S1-IgG less than 300 BAU/mL), the third vaccination was associated with an S1-IgG concentration of 300 BAU/mL or greater,” the study read. Patients with a recovering immune system had the greatest increase in S1-IgG concentration after the third dose, “but potent responses were also observed in patients with persistent immunodeficiencies,” the researchers wrote. “Specifically, patients with myeloid cancers or multiple myeloma and recipients of autologous or allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) reached median S1-IgG concentrations similar to those obtained by healthy individuals after a 2-dose schedule,” they said. In other differences, the study found patients who received anti-CD20 therapy, CD19-directed chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy recipients, and those with chronic lymphocytic leukemia receiving ibrutinib were less responsive to the third vaccination. Read: Metformin improves symptoms in people with bipolar disorder: study

Extra dose of COVID vaccine beneficial to patients with hematologic cancers

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