Table 1.
Baseline characteristics of vaccinated individuals with hematologic malignancies
| Cohort characteristics, N = 60a | N (%) |
|---|---|
| Age, median (IQR), years | 63.5 (58–70.25) |
| Male | 33 (55) |
| Ethnicity, white | 60 (100) |
| SARS-CoV-2 infection or detection of nucleocapsid antibody | |
| Detection of nucleocapsid antibody and/or previous SARS-CoV-2 infection before first vaccination, respectively | 0 (0) |
| Detection of nucleocapsid antibody between first and second vaccination | 1 (2)b |
| Detection of nucleocapsid antibody after second vaccination | 5 (8)b |
| Detection of nucleocapsid antibody after third vaccination | 2 (3)b |
| First COVID-19 vaccination | |
| BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine (Comirnaty, BioNTech/Pfizer) | 51 (85) |
| mRNA-1273 vaccine (Spikevax, Moderna) | 1 (2) |
| ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine (AZD1222, Vaxzevria, Oxford/AstraZeneca) | 8 (13) |
| Second COVID-19 vaccination | |
| BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine (Comirnaty, BioNTech/Pfizer) | 58 (97) |
| ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine (AZD1222, Vaxzevria, Oxford/AstraZeneca) | 2 (3)c |
| Third COVID-19 vaccination | |
| BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine (Comirnaty, BioNTech/Pfizer) | 36 (77) |
| mRNA-1273 vaccine (Spikevax, Moderna) | 11 (23) |
| Time from first blood draw to first vaccination, median (IQR) (d) | 2 (1–6) |
| Time from first to second vaccination, median (IQR) (d) | 42 (24–42) |
| Time from second vaccination to second blood draw, median (IQR) (d) | 35 (30–41) |
| Time from second vaccination to third blood draw, median (IQR) (d) | 151 (137–164) |
| Time from second to third vaccination, median (IQR) (d) | 189 (174–207) |
| Time from third vaccination to fourth blood draw, median (IQR) (d) | 41 (31–56) |
| Oncological history | |
| Hematologic malignancies, N = 60 | |
| Diagnosis | |
| LY | 38 (63) |
| FL | 12 (20) |
| MCL | 4 (7) |
| MZL | 4 (7) |
| CLL | 12 (20) |
| MALT | 2 (3) |
| DLBCL | 3 (5) |
| Waldenström (Myd88 positive) | 1 (2) |
| Anticancer treatment | |
| Currently receiving anti-CD20 therapy or <12 months prior | 14 (23) |
| mAb to CD20 therapy 12–60 months prior | 10 (17) |
| mAb to CD20 therapy >60 months prior or treatment naive | 10 (17) |
| Venetoclax | 1 (2) |
| Ibrutinib | 3 (5) |
| Myeloma | 22 (37) |
| MM | 19 (32) |
| SMM | 2 (3) |
| MGUS | 1 (2) |
| Anticancer treatment | |
| Treatment naive (‘untreated’) | 5 (8) |
| Lenalidomide 25–74 months (median 33 months) prior or autologous stem cell transplantation longer, on average, than 76 months before vaccination 1 (considered ‘untreated’) | 5 (8) |
| Currently receiving lenalidomide (as maintenance or relapse therapy) and 25 months (median) after autologous stem cell transplantation (considered ‘treated’) | 7 (12) |
| Currently receiving targeted therapy (considered ‘treated’) | 5 (8) |
| Previous autologous stem cell transplant | 18 (30) |
Demographic, epidemiological and clinical data (for example, cancer type and treatment history) of 60 individuals enrolled in the trial.
At visit 1, the hematologic cohort included 22 individuals with MM (N = 10 untreated MM; N = 12 treated MM) and 38 individuals with LY (N = 10 untreated LY; N = 14 LY treated with Rx for <12 months; N = 10 LY treated with Rx for 12–60 months before vaccination; N = 4 LY treated with venetoclax or ibrutinib).
‘Untreated’ MM was defined as either treatment naive or end of lenalidomide treatment 25 to 74 (median of 33) months before vaccination 1 and/or autologous stem cell transplantation longer than 59 to 90 (median of 76) months prior. ‘Treated’ MM was defined as ongoing treatment of individuals with mainly lenalidomide as maintenance or relapse therapy or any other targeted, myeloma-specific therapy. All treated individuals had had autologous stem cell transplantation 3–66 (median of 25) months prior.
The majority of individuals (87%) had received a homologous vaccination with BNT162b mRNA; six (10%) had received a heterologous vaccination with the viral vector-based vaccine AZD1222 followed by BNT162b mRNA.
For booster vaccination, all individuals received an mRNA-based vaccine.
FL, follicular lymphoma; MCL, mantle cell lymphoma; MZL, marginal zone lymphoma; CLL, chronic lymphocytic leukemia; MALT, mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma; DLBCL, diffuse large B cell lymphoma; SMM, smoldering multiple myeloma; MGUS monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance
aNeither Evusheld nor any other anti-spike neutralizing antibody approved in Germany was given to participants in our cohort in a prophylactic setting.
bOf note, all serum samples were characterized for anti-nucleocapsid titers. In case of a positive anti-nucleocapsid titer, participants were excluded from further statistical analysis.
cThe two individuals vaccinated with the AZD1222 vaccine twice were excluded from further statistical analyses.