Study investigates how immunotherapy affects COVID-19 outcomes

A recent study from the University of Cincinnati throws further information on the link between COVID-19 severity and immunotherapy treatment for cancer patients.

Trisha Wise-Draper, MD, PhD, of the University of Cincinnati, is a co-corresponding author of the study, which was published on November 3 in JAMA Oncology.

Prior to this study, there have been conflicting findings on how immunotherapy for cancer treatment affects COVID-19 outcomes, according to Wise-Draper. It was believed that immunotherapy would predispose cancer patients to worse COVID-19 disease since immunotherapy treatments impair and immunosuppress patients’ immune systems.

“This research was focused on understanding the effects of immunotherapy and immunosuppression on cancer patients with COVID-19 and COVID-19 outcomes,” said Wise-Draper, associate professor of medicine in the Division of

Hematology/Oncology, section head for Medical Oncology in UC’s College of Medicine, Head and Neck Center of Excellence co-leader and a UC Health physician.

The COVID-19 and Cancer Consortium registry, a multi-institution registry of individuals with COVID-19 and a current or past invasive cancer diagnosis, provided the researchers with data on 12,046 patients. The COVID-19 and cancer patient cohort with the most data available at this time was this one.

“We reviewed patients with cancer, those that had baseline immunosuppression and those that were treated with immunotherapy prior to getting COVID-19,” Wise-Draper said.

Covid severity

In addition to death rates, Wise-Draper stated that the research team evaluated the severity of COVID-19 disease using metrics such as whether patients needed oxygen, were admitted to the hospital, or required intensive care unit therapy.

“The most important finding is that although those treated with immunotherapy alone did not have an effect on COVID-19 disease outcomes, those that had baseline immunosuppression and were treated with immunotherapy had worse outcomes with COVID-19,” Wise-Draper said.

Patients who had nonimmunotherapy therapies, such as chemotherapy, had COVID-19 outcomes that were poorer than those who received immunotherapy, albeit to a smaller extent. These patients had baseline immunosuppression. It was discovered that those who had received COVID-19 immunizations had less severe COVID-19.

Immunotherapy therapies, according to the research, are typically safe for those who do not already have immunosuppression to utilise, even when the pandemic is at its worst. According to the study’s authors, future research comparing patient outcomes based on different immunotherapy regimens might offer more information.

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