Publication details

Additional booster doses in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia induce humoral and cellular immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 similar to natural infection regardless ongoing treatments: A study by ERIC, the European Research Initiative on CLL

Authors	CAMPANELLA A. CAPASSO A. HELTAI S. TACCETTI C. ALBI E. HERISHANU Y. HAGGENBURG S. CHATZIKONSTANTINOU T. DOUBEK Michael KATTSTROM M. GIANNOPOULOS K. SIMKOVIC M. MORENO C. MASSAIA M. BUMBEA H. ALSHEMMARI S. RANGHETTI P. PEROTTA E. MARTINI F. SANT'ANTONIO E. COLIA M. COMBI C. LEVI S. KATER A. P. HAZENBERG M. NIJHOF I. S. HOFSINK Q. DEMOSTHENOUS C. KOTAŠKOVÁ Jana ZALESKA J. VRBACKY F. RAYA A. Mora BISOGNO D. TRIPOLI I. E. POPOV V. M. ROMAN V. STAVROYIANNI N. KARYPIDOU M. SCARANO E. LOCATELLI M. FRENQUELLI M. SCARFO L. STAMATOPOULOS K. GHIA P.
Year of publication	2024
Type	Article in Periodical
Magazine / Source	American Journal of Hematology
MU Faculty or unit	Central European Institute of Technology
Citation
web	https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ajh.27218
Doi	http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ajh.27218
Keywords	chronic lymphocytic leukemia; SARS-CoV-2
Description	Profound immune dysregulation and impaired response to the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine put patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) at risk of severe COVID-19. We compared humoral memory and T-cell responses after booster dose vaccination or breakthrough infection. (Green) Quantitative determination of anti-Spike specific antibodies. Booster doses increased seroconversion rate and antibody titers in all patient categories, ultimately generating humoral responses similar to those observed in the postinfection cohort. In detail, humoral response with overscale median antibody titers arose in >80% of patients in watch and wait, off-therapy in remission, or under treatment with venetoclax single-agent. Anti-CD20 antibodies and active treatment with BTK inhibitors (BTKi) represent limiting factors of humoral response, still memory mounted in ~40% of cases following booster doses or infection. (Blue) Evaluation of SARS-CoV-2-specific T-cell responses. Number of T-cell functional activation markers documented in each patient. The vast majority of patients, including those seronegative, developed T-cell responses, qualitatively similar between treatment groups or between vaccination alone and infection cases. These data highlight the efficacy of booster doses in eliciting T-cell immunity independently of treatment status and support the use of additional vaccination boosters to stimulate humoral immunity in patients on active CLL-directed treatments.