Impact of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination and monoclonal antibodies on outcome post-CD19-directed CAR T-cell therapy: an EPICOVIDEHA survey.

Patients with previous CD19-directed chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy have a prolonged vulnerability to viral infections. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has a great impact and has previously been shown to cause high mortality in this population. Until now, real-world data on the impact of vaccination and treatment on patients with COVID-19 after CD19-directed CAR T-cell therapy are lacking. Therefore, this multicenter, retrospective study was conducted with data from the EPICOVIDEHA survey. Sixty-four patients were identified. The overall mortality caused by COVID-19 was 31%. Patients infected with the Omicron variant had a significantly lower risk of death due to COVID-19 compared with patients infected with previous variants (7% vs 58% [P = .012]). Twenty-six patients were vaccinated at the time of the COVID-19 diagnosis. Two vaccinations showed a marked but unsignificant reduction in the risk of COVID-19-caused mortality (33.3% vs 14.2% [P = .379]). In addition, the course of the disease appears milder with less frequent intensive care unit admissions (39% vs 14% [P = .054]) and a shorter duration of hospitalization (7 vs 27.5 days [P = .022]). Of the available treatment options, only monoclonal antibodies seemed to be effective at reducing mortality from 32% to 0% (P = .036). We conclude that survival rates of CAR T-cell recipients with COVID-19 improved over time and that the combination of prior vaccination and monoclonal antibody treatment significantly reduces their risk of death. This trial was registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov as #NCT04733729.

Basophil-lineage commitment in acute promyelocytic leukemia predicts for severe bleeding after starting therapy.

Severe hemorrhagic events occur in a significant fraction of acute promyelocytic leukemia patients, either at presentation and/or early after starting therapy, leading to treatment failure and early deaths. However, identification of independent predictors for high-risk of severe bleeding at diagnosis, remains a challenge. Here, we investigated the immunophenotype of bone marrow leukemic cells from 109 newly diagnosed acute promyelocytic leukemia patients, particularly focusing on the identification of basophil-related features, and their potential association with severe bleeding episodes and patient overall survival.From all phenotypes investigated on leukemic cells, expression of the CD203c and/or CD22 basophil-associated markers showed the strongest association with the occurrence and severity of bleeding (p ≤ 0.007); moreover, aberrant expression of CD7, coexpression of CD34+/CD7+ and lack of CD71 was also more frequently found among patients with (mild and severe) bleeding at baseline and/or after starting treatment (p ≤ 0.009). Multivariate analysis showed that CD203c expression (hazard ratio: 26.4; p = 0.003) and older age (hazard ratio: 5.4; p = 0.03) were the best independent predictors for cumulative incidence of severe bleeding after starting therapy. In addition, CD203c expression on leukemic cells (hazard ratio: 4.4; p = 0.01), low fibrinogen levels (hazard ratio: 8.8; p = 0.001), older age (hazard ratio: 9.0; p = 0.002), and high leukocyte count (hazard ratio: 5.6; p = 0.02) were the most informative independent predictors for overall survival.In summary, our results show that the presence of basophil-associated phenotypic characteristics on leukemic cells from acute promyelocytic leukemia patients at diagnosis is a powerful independent predictor for severe bleeding and overall survival, which might contribute in the future to (early) risk-adapted therapy decisions.