Dr. Au on the Rationale to Evaluate Antiviral Immunity From COVID-19 in Cancer

Lewis Au, MBBS, BMedSci, FRACP, oncology research fellow, visiting scientist, The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust and Cancer Dynamics Laboratory, Francis Crick Institute, discusses the rationale to evaluate antiviral immunity from COVID-19 among patients with cancer.

The prospective, longitudinal, pan-tumor CAPTURE study evaluated the immune profiles of patients with cancer to determine the susceptibility and severity of COVID-19 in the context of the pandemic, says Au. The COVID-19 pandemic has posed a significant challenge for risk evaluation and mitigation among patients with cancer, and understanding the degree and characteristics of immune response in these patients against COVID-19 was largely unknown. 

Initial data from early in the pandemic suggested that patients with cancer had worse outcomes with COVID-19 compared with the general population, explains Au. However, to what degree patients’ underlying cancer and cancer treatment affected outcomes with COVID-19 had been an unanswered question, concludes Au.