Response to <scp>anti‐SARS‐CoV</scp>‐2 <scp>mRNA</scp> vaccines in multiple myeloma and chronic lymphocytic leukemia patients
Joanna Zaleska, Paulina Kwaśnik, Magdalena Paziewska, Joanna Purkot, Aleksandra Szabelak, Mateusz Jurek, Natalia Masny, Izabela Dziatkiewicz, Bartosz Pronobis‐Szczylik, Agnieszka Piebiak, Agnieszka Szymczyk, Katarzyna Jarosz‐Chudzik, Łukasz Bołkuń, Katarzyna Kozłowska, Jarosław Piszcz, Edyta Subocz, Janusz Hałka, Michał Bator, Elżbieta Kalicińska, Tomasz Wróbel, Lidia Usnarska‐Zubkiewicz, Justyna Rybka, Izabela Dereń-Wagemann, Marta Szyca‐Smieszniak, Jarosław Dybko, Iwona Hus, Bartosz Puła, Edyta Cichocka, Marcin Rymko, Dorota Zduńczyk, Mateusz Ziarkiewicz, Grzegorz Basak, Lars Bullinger, Krzysztof Giannopoulos
Abstract
Multiple myeloma (MM) and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) patients have increased morbidity and mortality rates of COVID-19 due to immunosuppression associated with the disease and ongoing therapy. The same immune impairment accompanying CLL and MM also affects suboptimal vaccine response. The study assessed the effectiveness of the humoral and T cell-mediated immunity following mRNA COVID-19 vaccination (using either BNT162b2 or mRNA-1273) in short-term (2-5 weeks after second dose) and long-term follow-up (12 weeks after vaccination). Between March and August 2021, blood samples were obtained from 62 CLL and 60 MM patients from eight different hematology departments in Poland. Total anti-RBD antibodies were detected in 37% MM patients before vaccination, increased to 91% and 94% in short- and long-term follow-up, respectively. In CLL, serological responses were detectable in 21% of patients before vaccination and increased to 45% in the short-term and 71% in long-term observation. We detected a tendency to higher frequencies of specific CD8+ T cells against SARS-CoV-2 after vaccination compared to samples before vaccination in MM patients and no changes in frequencies of specific T cells in CLL patients. Our study provides novel insights into mRNA vaccination efficacy in immunocompromised MM and CLL patients, and our findings highlight that specific CD8+ T cells against SARS-CoV-2 might be induced by vaccination but do not correlate positively with serological responses.