To our knowledge, this is the largest reported cohort of PBT patients assessed for serological status following two doses of the BNT162b2 mRNA Covid-19 vaccine. Eighty percent of PBT patients in our study seroconverted followings a two-dose vaccination schedule, which is a lower rate than was previously recorded in pan-cancer cohorts, including from our group 11,12. As with the previous pan-cancer cohorts, median IgG titers in the PBT group were significantly lower compared with HCs, and remained lower upwards of 4 months post-vaccination.
The reduced immunogenicity observed in the PBT cohort should be interpreted with caution. First, while there is an agreed-upon laboratory IgG value above which a person is considered to have successfully seroconverted, the threshold required for actual real-life clinical protection against infection (a “protective threshold”) has not been established21. In addition, whether or not lower IgG titers in seroconverted individuals necessarily confer greater risk of infection is also unclear. Early data does indicate, however, that breakthrough infections are correlated with lower peak levels of both neutralizing and S- specific IgG antibodies. This was recently demonstrated in a study from Israel conducted among vaccinated healthcare personnel22.
All three PBT patients who failed to successfully seroconvert at T2 were under daily corticosteroid treatment during the vaccination schedule, with two patients receiving high-dose dexamethasone. Indeed, a negative association between steroid treatment and IgG titers was confirmed in a univariate analysis. Interestingly, while four PBT patients who successfully seroconverted were also treated with steroids, none required dosing above 4 mg, suggesting that the level of impairment exerted by steroids on vaccine immunogenicity may be dose dependent.
In contrast to our findings regarding steroids, there was no demonstrable association between receipt of TMZ in the peri-vaccination period and subsequent IgG titer levels. TMZ is known to induce lymphopenia which is driven primarily by selective CD4+ T-Cell Depletion15,23. Therefore, any impairment to vaccine response exerted by TMZ would presumably be mediated through reduced CD4+ counts. In our study, longitudinal CD4 counts across the vaccination schedule were not routinely obtained, precluding a correlation analysis to be performed between CD4+ levels and humoral response. A relevant extrapolation could be made from the limited published data on vaccinated persons with HIV. Frater and colleagues recently reported safety and efficacy outcomes for a subset of 54 HIV-positive patients included in the phase II/III study of the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine (Astra-Zeneca)24. In the study, all participants were on active anti-retroviral therapy, had undetectable HIV viral load, and the median CD4 counts at enrollment were 694 cells/µL. The authors found no difference in the magnitude or durability of anti-spike IgG response between HIV-positive and HIV-negative participants, and there was no correlation between CD4 counts and the level of IgG response at day 56 following the prime vaccination (first dose).
Our study suffers from several limitations. Primarily, small sample sizes in both groups prohibit making robust conclusions regarding vaccine immunogenicity in PBT patients. Secondly, the groups were not matched by age and sex – the proportion of males in the PBTs was higher, as was the median age. Lastly, cellular immunity measures - which are of relevance in patients receiving lymphocyte-modulating treatment, were not assessed.
Notwithstanding the above limitations, our findings do point to a reduced vaccine response in PBT patients compared with healthy controls, as evidenced by a lower rate of successful seroconversion, as well as reduced IgG levels over a prolonged follow-up period. Both of these effects might be mediated by chronic steroid use throughout the vaccination schedule. In light of our findings, it appears prudent to minimize corticosteroid treatment for PBT patients during the peri-vaccination period to the lowest-possible dose required to control edema-related symptoms. In addition, PBT patients should be strongly considered for receipt of a third (“booster”) vaccination dose. Alternatively, IgG titer levels may be serially monitored following the two-dose schedule to single out the subset of PBTs patients who serve to benefit from a booster dose.
Like many other facets of oncology care, the treatment of neuro-oncology patients has been severely disrupted by the pandemic25. Minimizing infection risk should be a high priority especially in patients with high - grade glioma, who typically harbor multiple risk factors for severe infection including older age, continuous immunosuppression, and reduced mobility secondary to neurological damage.