Adaptive immunity to SARS-CoV-2 in cancer patients: The CAPTURE study

Fendler, Annika; Au, Lewis; Boos, Laura Amanda; Byrne, Fiona; Shepherd, Scott Thomas Colville; Shum, Ben; Gerard, Camille L; Ward, Barry; Xie, Wenyi; Cerrone, Maddalena; Cornish, Georgina H; Pule, Martin; Mekkaoui, Leila; Ng, Kevin; Stone, Richard; Gomes, Camilla; Flynn, Helen R; Agua-Doce, Ana; Hobson, Phillip; Caidan, Simon; Howell, Mike; Goldstone, Robert; Gavrielides, Mike; Nye, Emma; Snijders, Bram; Macrae, James; Nicod, Jerome; Hayday, Adrian; Gronthoud, Firza; Messiou, Christina; Cunningham, David; Chau, Ian; Starling, Naureen; Turner, Nicholas; Rusby, Jennifer; Welsh, Liam; As, Nicholas van; Jones, Robin; Droney, Joanne; Banerjee, Susana; Tatham, Kate; Jhanji, Shaman; Curtis, Olivia; Harrington, Kevin; Bhide, Shreerang; Slattery, Tim; Khan, Yasir; Tippu, Zayd; Leslie, Isla; Gennatas, Spyridon; Okines, Alicia; Reid, Alison; Young, Kate; Furness, Andrew; Pickering, Lisa; Ghandi, Sonia; Gamblin, Steve; Swanton, Charles; Nicholson, Emma; Kumar, Sacheen; Yousaf, Nadia; Wilkinson, Katalin Andrea; Swerdlow, Anthony; Harvey, Ruth; Kassiotis, George; Wilkinson, Robert; Larkin, James; Turajlic, Samra

There is a pressing need to characterise the nature, extent and duration of immune response to SARS-CoV-2 in cancer patients and inform risk-reduction strategies and preserve cancer outcomes. CAPTURE is a prospective, longitudinal cohort study of cancer patients and healthcare workers (HCWs) integrating longitudinal immune profiling and clinical annotation. We evaluated 529 blood samples and 1051 oronasopharyngeal swabs from 144 cancer patients and 73 HCWs and correlated with >200 clinical variables. In patients with solid cancers and HCWs, S1-reactive and neutralising antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 were detectable five months post-infection. SARS-CoV-2-specific T-cell responses were detected, and CD4+ T-cell responses correlated with S1 antibody levels. Patients with haematological malignancies had impaired but partially compensated immune responses. Overall, cancer stage, disease status, and therapies did not correlate with immune responses. These findings have implications for understanding individual risks and potential effectiveness of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in the cancer population.