[Pubmed] SARS-CoV-2 vaccine in patients with thymic epithelial tumours with and without active or pre-existing autoimmun

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Eur J Cancer. 2022 Feb 25;166:202-207. doi: 10.1016/j.ejca.2022.02.011. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: International guidelines recommend severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) vaccine for patients with cancer. A substantial risk of developing vaccine-related autoimmune toxicities could be hypothesised for patients with thymic epithelial tumours (TETs) due to their high risk of autoimmune disorders (ADs). Moreover, a cross-reaction between SARS-CoV-2 spike protein antibodies and various tissue proteins has been shown, and antibodies against nucleoproteins showed overlaps in the autoimmune cross-reaction with antibodies to spike protein. Due to the rarity of TETs, no data addressing this hypothesis are available.

METHODS: Patients with TETs who received SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, treated in 4 referral centres of the Italian Collaborative Group for ThYmic MalignanciEs (TYME) network between February 2021 and September 2021, were interviewed through a standardised 15-items questionnaire in order to describe the safety of SARS-CoV-2 vaccine in patients affected by TETs.

RESULTS: Data from 245 doses of vaccine administered to 126 patients (41 = thymic carcinoma, 85 = thymoma; 38 with AD, of which 26 with active AD) were collected. Nine patients had a previous COVID-19-positive swab. No cases of AD reactivation or worsening of a pre-existing AD were seen in the study population. A new diagnosis of myasthenia gravis likely unrelated to the vaccine was made in two patients after the vaccination. Sixty-four patients (51%) experienced a total of 103 adverse events, all G1/G2, most commonly fatigue, new or worsening muscle pain and chills. None AE required patients' hospitalisation.

CONCLUSIONS: SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccines appear to be safe in patients with TET, even in case of active or pre-existing AD.

PMID:35306318 | DOI:10.1016/j.ejca.2022.02.011


Source: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3530631 ... 5&v=2.17.6