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Profound immune dysregulation and impaired response to the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine put patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) at risk of severe COVID-19. We compared humoral memory and T-cell responses after booster dose vaccination or breakthrough infection. (Green) Quantitative determination of anti-Spike specific antibodies. Booster doses increased seroconversion rate and antibody titers in all patient categories, ultimately generating humoral responses similar to those observed in the postinfection cohort. In detail, humoral response with overscale median antibody titers arose in >80% of patients in watch and wait, off-therapy in remission, or under treatment with venetoclax single-agent. Anti-CD20 antibodies and active treatment with BTK inhibitors (BTKi) represent limiting factors of humoral response, still memory mounted in ~40% of cases following booster doses or infection. (Blue) Evaluation of SARS-CoV-2-specific T-cell responses. Number of T-cell functional activation markers documented in each patient. The vast majority of patients, including those seronegative, developed T-cell responses, qualitatively similar between treatment groups or between vaccination alone and infection cases. These data highlight the efficacy of booster doses in eliciting T-cell immunity independently of treatment status and support the use of additional vaccination boosters to stimulate humoral immunity in patients on active CLL-directed treatments., The project was supported in part by Fondazione Veronesi (ID 1852164), Janssen (IBR-I-20-EMEA-014-V01/54179060CLL4024; NOPRODCLL4001), and MH CZ—DRO (FNBr, 65269705).

BACKGROUND: Patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) show an immune dysfunction with increased risk of infections and poor response to vaccination. Streptococcus pneumoniae is a common cause of morbidity and mortality in CLL patients. In a previous randomized clinical trial, we found a superior immune response in CLL patients receiving conjugated pneumococcal vaccine compared to non-conjugated vaccine. The response to revaccination in CLL patients is scarcely studied. In this study, early humoral response to repeated revaccinations with pneumococcal vaccines was evaluated, by determination of B cell subsets and plasmablast dynamics in peripheral blood. METHOD: CLL patients (n = 14) and immunocompetent controls (n = 31) were revaccinated with a 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) after previous primary immunization (3-6 years ago) with PCV13 or a 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPSV23). Eight weeks after the first revaccination, all CLL patients received a second revaccination with PCV13 or PPSV23. B cell subsets including plasmablasts were analyzed in peripheral blood by flow cytometry, before and after the first and the second revaccination. RESULTS: None of the CLL patients, but all controls, had detectable plasmablasts at baseline (p < 0.001). After the first revaccination with PCV13, the plasmablast proportions did not increase in CLL patients (p = 0.13), while increases were seen in controls (p < 0.001). However, after a second revaccination with PCV13 or PPSV23, plasmablasts increased compared to baseline also in CLL patients (p < 0.01). If no response was evident after first revaccination, only a second revaccination with PCV13 increased plasmablasts in contrast to PPSV23 revaccination. Patients with hypogammaglobulinemia and ongoing/previous CLL specific treatment responded poorly, also to a second revaccination. CONCLUSION: In CLL patients, pneumococcal revaccination induced minor early plasmablast response compa, Funding agency:Uppsala-Örebro Regional Research Council

Aim: To determine if patients with untreated chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) benefit from vaccination with a 13-valent conjugated pneumococcal vaccine (PCV13), Prevenar13®, compared with a 23-valent capsular polysaccharide vaccine (PPSV23), Pneumovax®, in terms of immune response. Background: Patients with CLL have an increased risk for infection and Streptococcus pneumoniae is one of the most common pathogens with high morbidity. Patients with CLL are known to respond poorly to the traditionally used polysaccharide vaccines. Conjugation of polysaccharide to protein carriers renders a thymus-dependent, memory-inducing and more immunogenic vaccine. In patients with CLL, there is no consensus on a recommendation for pneumococcal vaccination, due to a lack of comparative studies. Methods: 128 treatment naïve CLL patients from eight hematology clinics in Sweden were randomized to vaccination with PCV13 (n=63) or PPSV23 (n=65) after stratification by IgG levels and CLL clinical stage (Rai). Blood samples for evaluation of immune response were obtained at baseline, at one and at six months after vaccination. Analyses for each of the 12 pneumococcal serotypes common for PCV13 and PPSV23 were performed by opsonophagocytic assay (OPA) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Results: PCV13 elicited a superior immune response than PPSV23 in 10/12 serotypes one month after vaccination and in 5/12 serotypes six months after vaccination, measured as OPA geometric mean titers (GMTs). Geometric mean concentrations of serotype-specific IgG antibodies elicited by PCV13 as measured by ELISA, were higher than those elicited by PPSV23 in half of the common serotypes, both after one and six months. The proportion of patients with good response (defined as response in 8 of 12 common serotypes according to predefined response criteria) was higher in PCV13 recipients than in PPSV23 recipients after one month (40% vs. 22%, p=0.034) as well as after six months (33% vs. 17%, p

Key Clinical Message Inherited conditions associated with thrombocytopenia should be included in the differential diagnosis of young patients with refractory immune thrombocytopenia (ITP), even in the absence of a positive family history. Early identification of such conditions is of vital importance in order to reach the right diagnosis and avoid unnecessary or even harmful medication.