Cancer immunotherapy diminishes peak COVID-19 vaccine antibody response
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Key takeaways:
- Patients treated with anti-PD-1 monotherapy had lower peak levels of spike-specific antibodies.
- Anti-PD-1 therapy does not alter vaccine antibody response to recognize COVID-19 variants.
Anti-PD-1 therapy reduces de novo production of spike-specific antibodies following vaccination from SARS-CoV-2, according to study findings presented at Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer Annual Meeting.
The analysis showed that administration of anti-PD-1 therapy alters the peak levels and kinetics of new humoral responses to vaccination but has no effect on pre-existing humoral immunity, researchers noted.
“Anti-PD-1 treatment alters the kinetics of antibodies generated after SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccines,” Kelly P. Burke, MD, PhD, medical oncologist and physician-scientist at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, said during a presentation. “It led to a decrease in the peak quantity of the major type of antibodies, but these responses were durable over time and it does not appear to alter the breadth of antibody response to recognize variants such as omicron.”
Background and methodology
Preclinical models of infection and vaccination indicate that early PD-1 pathway blockade may expand effector cells in exchange of memory cell or immunoglobin generation. This process can have ramifications for cancer immunotherapy combinations.
Researchers investigated the impact of anti-PD-1 therapy on immune responses following SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in humans for the first time.
Study investigators collected data from healthy controls (n = 30) and patients on anti-PD-1/L1 monotherapy (n = 18) or anti-PD-1/combination therapy (n = 14) every 1 to 2 months over a more than 6-month timespan following patient vaccination with Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccine without prior SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Researchers measured binding of antibody subtypes —IgG, IgG1, IgG2, IgG3, IgA1, IgA2 and IgM — to bead-antigen conjugates encoding total spike, S1 subunits and S2 from the vaccine, variants of concern, and previously encountered antigens.
Results, next steps
Patients treated with anti-PD-1 monotherapy exhibited lower peak levels of vaccine sequence spike-specific IgG1 Ab compared with controls, with a similar effect being shown for the S1 and S2 subunits and variants of concern against IgG1.
However, researchers noted no difference in peak antibody responses against the other antibody subtypes.
Additionally, researchers observed no difference in immunoglobin levels at peak or over time for cytomegalovirus, tetanus or influenza between treatment groups.
The data showed that patients who received anti-PD-1 treatment lacked the initial peak in antibody responses observed in healthy controls, but their antibody levels remained durable and did not decline over time.
Such a connection now raises additional questions, according to Burke.
“I think that this raises the question of how anti-PD-1 treatment impacts T and B cell function during the generation of new immune response,” Burke said.
Collapse
Burke KP, et al. Abstract 578. Presented at: Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer Annual Meeting; Nov. 1-5, 2023; San Diego.
Read more about
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts