Dr. Au on the Results of a Subgroup Analysis Evaluating Antibody Response to COVID-19 in Cancer

Lewis Au, MBBS, BMedSci, FRACP, an oncology research fellow and visiting scientist at The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust and Cancer Dynamics Laboratory, Francis Crick Institute, discusses the results of a subgroup analysis evaluating antibody responses to COVID-19 in patients with cancer.

According to results from the prospective, longitudinal, pan-tumor CAPTURE study (NCT03583099), patients with cancer are able to mount functional immune responses to COVID-19 infection, Au says. However, there are emerging signals indicating that investigators must put their efforts into the subgroup analysis, Au explains. Registry data suggest that patients with hematologic malignancies are at higher risk for adverse outcomes from COVID-19 infection, but a larger trial is needed to solidify that data in patients with solid tumors, Au notes.

The overall goal of the CAPTURE study is to enroll more than 1000 patients to have larger numbers for the subgroup analysis, as well as more accurate data readouts regarding the contribution of cancer types, cancer treatments such as chemotherapy, and the context in which they would impact patients with cancer over the course of COVID-19, Au concludes.