Additional booster doses in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia induce humoral and cellular immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 similar to natural infection regardless ongoing treatments: A study by ERIC, the European Research Initiative on CLL

Profound immune dysregulation and impaired response to the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine put patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) at risk of severe COVID-19. We compared humoral memory and T-cell responses after booster dose vaccination or breakthrough infection. (Green) Quantitative determination of anti-Spike specific antibodies. Booster doses increased seroconversion rate and antibody titers in all patient categories, ultimately generating humoral responses similar to those observed in the postinfection cohort. In detail, humoral response with overscale median antibody titers arose in >80% of patients in watch and wait, off-therapy in remission, or under treatment with venetoclax single-agent. Anti-CD20 antibodies and active treatment with BTK inhibitors (BTKi) represent limiting factors of humoral response, still memory mounted in ~40% of cases following booster doses or infection. (Blue) Evaluation of SARS-CoV-2-specific T-cell responses. Number of T-cell functional activation markers documented in each patient. The vast majority of patients, including those seronegative, developed T-cell responses, qualitatively similar between treatment groups or between vaccination alone and infection cases. These data highlight the efficacy of booster doses in eliciting T-cell immunity independently of treatment status and support the use of additional vaccination boosters to stimulate humoral immunity in patients on active CLL-directed treatments.

MALT lymphomas -Treated with chemotherapy or radiotherapy: Clinical Features, Prognostic factors and Survival

OBJECTIVE

MALT lymphomas are a group of extranodal indolent lymphomas that usually present as stage IE. To clarify clinical features, treatment alternatives and outcomes, we evaluated 38 patients treated with chemotherapy or radiotherapy between 2000 and 2011.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

MALT lymphoma patients identified according to WHO classification and treated at KCCC between 2000 and 2011 were included in this study. Demographic and clinical data are presented as means or medians. Overall survival was estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method. Survival rates were compared using the log-rank test. A p value < 0.05 was considered significant.

RESULTS

The median age of the patients was 49 years and the male to female ratio was 2:1. Gastric MALT accounted for 63% of all patients and the most common presenting symptom was abdomen pain and dyspepsia. The common extra gastric sites were salivary glands, lung and orbit. 90% of the patients presented with early stage disease. Two patients had history of pre-existing autoimmune disease. Even among patients who had failed prior antibiotic therapy for Helicobacter pylori, treatment with chemotherapy achieved good results with 5 year survival of 80%.

CONCLUSION

MALT lymphomas are indolent neoplasm's with excellent long term outcome. There is no significant difference in survival between gastric and extra-gastric MALT lymphoma.

KEYWORDS

MALT lymphoma, Gastric Neoplasm, H. pylori.

Population-based study of Hodgkin's lymphoma in Kuwait

INTRODUCTION

Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) comprises about 25% of all malignant nodal lymphomas worldwide. Incidence of HL has been increasing in many countries around the world, in the western countries in particular. Cancer incidence variations in different ethnic groups in the same country can lead to some important information about the search of etiological factors. Some researchers found an association between ethnicity and increased risk of HL. In this study, we evaluated the epidemiologic and clinical characteristics of patients with HL and the HL subtypes in Kuwait who were diagnosed between 1998 and 2006 and we analyzed the changes in the incidence of HL over time based on age, sex, and ethnicity.

MATERIAL AND METHOD

The Kuwait Cancer Control Center is a tertiary referral hospital and the only cancer hospital in the entire state of Kuwait. We identified 293 patients who were newly diagnosed with HL by histopathology between January 1, 1998, and December 31, 2006, at the Kuwait Cancer Control Center. Incidence data were crossvalidated with the population-based Cancer Registry of Kuwait. Clinical data were obtained by reviewing the patients' medical records.

RESULTS

The median age at diagnosis was 39 years (range, 10-85 years) for patients with cHL and 36 years (range, 14-51 years) for patients with NLPHL. The age-adjusted incidence rate was 2.1 cases (range, 1.2-2.9) per 100,000 people per year in the period between 1998 and 2006. NLPHL and cHL were predominant in men with a male to female ratio of 2:1. However, the mean annual percentage change in HL incidence among Kuwaiti patients and non-Kuwaiti patients per year showed unexplained higher percentage in females both Kuwaiti and non-Kuwaiti. cHL comprised 92.5% of all HL cases and NLPHL comprised 7.5%. Nodular sclerosis was the predominant histologic subtype of cHL (58.9%), whereas mixed cellularity was the second most frequent histologic subtype of cHL, (25.9%).

CONCLUSION

Although the incidence of HL was slightly lower in Kuwait than the worldwide incidence; it was similar to Asian descent population. Incidence of HL varied in the same country among different ethnic subgroups. The mean annual percentage change increased in Kuwaiti and non-Kuwaiti females.