Dr. Au on Antibody Responses to COVID-19 Observed in Patients With Cancer

Lewis Au, MBBS, BMedSci, FRACP, an oncology research fellow and visiting scientist at the The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust and Cancer Dynamics Laboratory, Francis Crick Institute, discusses antibody responses to COVID-19 observed in patients with cancer.

Patients with cancer mount antibody responses to COVID-19 that are comparable to those seen in subjects without cancer, according to results from the prospective, longitudinal, pan-tumor CAPTURE study. However, patients with hematologic malignancies behaved differently, Au says. For example, patients with lymphoma did not mount an antibody response to the virus, Au explains. The problem is likely underpinned by defects present in immune lineages, Au notes.

In terms of the duration of antibody response to COVID-19 observed in patients with cancer, responses were sustained as of 5 months of follow-up, Au concludes.