Nancy Lapid

(Reuters) – The following summarizes recent research on COVID-19, and other cancers presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s annual meeting in Chicago.

Strong T-cell response by COVID vaccines in blood cancer patients

Recent data shows that although patients suffering from blood cancers may have an inverse response to COVID-19 vaccines, this could still protect them against serious illness.

Monash University in Australia conducted a study on immune reactions to the COVID vaccines. Moderna Nearly 400 people with cancers have been treated or are currently being treated by Pfizer/BioNTech, AstraZeneca or Pfizer (NASDAQ:). Researchers reported that only 3.2% of the solid tumor patients had antibodies capable of neutralizing SARS/CoV-2 and preventing infection. This was compared with 30% of the other 137 patients who were diagnosed with hematological malignancies. However, immune cells known as T cells can kill infected cells. Researchers believe that T cells may provide immune protection for those who have not received an antibody response.

In a separate presentation, the same team stated that safety data regarding COVID-19 vaccinations for patients with cancer “are reassuring.” A survey of nearly 500 people revealed that most children and adults experienced after-effects. The most frequent were fatigue and pain at the injection site. The severity of reactions was low, ranging between 0%-10%). There were also very few interruptions in cancer treatment (0%-11%). The researchers stated, “No evidence of a significant improvement in quality life for either dose 1 or 2, in adults or in children,”

It is not uncommon for breakthrough COVID-19 to be used in the treatment of cancer patients.

A significant proportion of cancer patients who are vaccinated have to be admitted if they develop COVID-19 breakthroughs, according data from the American Society of Clinical Oncology. These findings were reported at ASCO2022.

Two-thirds of the 231 breakthrough infections in patients receiving cancer treatment or after a year were studied by researchers. The patients had received at least one dose of a vaccine from Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna or Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:). These breakthrough cases usually occurred six to eight months later. Patients with breakthrough cancers and non-metastatic tumors were nearly 20 percent of those admitted. Patients with blood cancer who had received breakthrough COVID-19 were hospitalized at rates ranging from 32% to 56 percent.

The researchers summarized their findings in a presentation. They stated that while the proportion of breakthrough patients who were admitted to hospital remained relatively constant through 2021 (about 40%), those infected by the Omicron variant had an increase in hospitalization rates (at around 20%) in breakthrough patients. They stated that the majority of SARS/CoV-2-related infections occur six to eight months after vaccination, which suggests decreased vaccine effectiveness over time. Additional doses could also be an issue.

Patients with cancer are overrepresented in the long-term COVID group

Patients with cancer account for a large proportion of those who experience persistent and troublesome symptoms following recovery from COVID-19. This condition is also known as long COVID. U.S. researchers presented their findings at ASCO 2022.

A nationally representative group of more than 43,000 people were diagnosed with COVID-19 in January 2020-2022. They found 1,700 COVID-19-positive adults and discovered that 37% were patients with cancer. Skin (21.9%), breast (17.7%), prostatic (8.3%), lymphoma (8%) were the most prevalent cancers. Leukemia was 5.7%.

The long COVID patients were generally older than the non-cancer ones, had more medical conditions, and were more likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19. Researchers call for further investigation into risk factors that could lead to long-term COVID among patients with cancer.

Click for a Reuters graphic https://tmsnrt.rs/3c7R3Bl on vaccines in development.