Immunogenicity of BNT162b2 COVID-19 vaccine in melanoma patients receiving immunotherapy

Source: New Medical Life Science, May 2022

In a recent study under review at the Scientific Reports journal and posted to the Research Square* preprint server, researchers evaluated the immunogenicity of messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA)-based coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine BNT162b2 in cancer patients under treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs).

Background
Some studies have raised concern, although only theoretically, that vaccination against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) could trigger immune-related adverse events (irAEs) in adult patients with melanomas receiving ICIs. A vaccine’s efficacy is determined by investigating how well it prevents disease, whereas immunogenicity measures the type of immune responses the vaccine generates along with their magnitude over time.

In the general population, the Pfizer/BioNTech BNT162b2 vaccine induces highly effective humoral and cell-mediated immune responses, including the production of neutralizing immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies and cytokines such as interferon-gamma (IFN?), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-?), and interleukin (IL)-2. Additionally, BNT162b2 activates SARS-CoV-2-specific cluster of differentiation (CD)4+ and CD8+ T cells.

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