COVID-19 vaccination protects people with blood cancer

The research group led by Prof. Oliver T. Keppler is specialized not only in analyzing the concentration of antibodies after vaccination, but also their quality. This depends particularly on the strength of the bonds between antibodies and the viral spike protein. In addition, the ability of antibodies to neutralize different SARS-CoV-2 variants in cell cultures plays a major role. As the next step, therefore, the scientists compared the quantity and quality of antibodies and T cell responses to the spike protein among blood cancer patients and healthy study participants after two and three COVID-19 vaccinations.

High-quality antibodies against different SARS-CoV-2 variants

The study revealed that patients who can form antibodies tend to produce antibodies of particularly high quality. After their second vaccination, they are already able to neutralize and thus deactivate different SARS-CoV-2 variants. This ability is considerably more pronounced in this patient cohort than in vaccinated healthy people.

"COVID-19 vaccination can generate very broad antiviral immunity-including highly potent neutralizing antibodies-in patients with various types of blood cancer. Consequently, multiple vaccine doses can be recommended for patients with B-cell lymphoma or multiple myeloma without interrupting therapy," summarizes Prof. Oliver T. Keppler.

Reference:

Keppler-Hafkemeyer, A., Greil, C., Wratil, P.R. et al. Potent high-avidity neutralizing antibodies and T cell responses after COVID-19 vaccination in individuals with B cell lymphoma and multiple myeloma. Nat Cancer (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43018-022-00502-x