Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer (Jan 2021)

Clinical impact of COVID-19 on patients with cancer treated with immune checkpoint inhibition

  • Dirk Schadendorf,
  • Carola Berking,
  • Lisa Zimmer,
  • Serigne Lo,
  • Caroline Robert,
  • John Haanen,
  • Ines Pires da Silva,
  • Paolo Antonio Ascierto,
  • Reinhard Dummer,
  • Michael Manos,
  • Joanna Mangana,
  • Marcus O Butler,
  • Richard D Carvajal,
  • Georgina V Long,
  • Alon Vaisman,
  • Christian Posch,
  • F Stephen Hodi,
  • Paola Queirolo,
  • Axel Hauschild,
  • Christian U Blank,
  • Maria Grazia Vitale,
  • Carlo Alberto Tondini,
  • Leyre Zubiri,
  • Arielle Elkrief,
  • Karijn P M Suijkerbuijk,
  • Mario Mandala,
  • Alexander M Menzies,
  • Aljosja Rogiers,
  • Chiara Tentori,
  • Joseph M Grimes,
  • Megan H Trager,
  • Sharon Nahm,
  • Peter Bowling,
  • Neha Papneja,
  • April A N Rose,
  • Jessica S W Borgers,
  • Severine Roy,
  • Thiago Pimentel Muniz,
  • Tim Cooksley,
  • Jeremy Lupu,
  • Samuel D Saibil,
  • Matteo S Carlino,
  • Michael Erdmann,
  • Laura Pala,
  • Ryan J Sullivan,
  • Wilson H Miller Jr,
  • Kerry L Reynolds,
  • Osama E Rahma,
  • Paul C Lorigan

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1136/jitc-2020-001931
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 9, no. 1

Abstract

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Background Patients with cancer who are infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) are more likely to develop severe illness and die compared with those without cancer. The impact of immune checkpoint inhibition (ICI) on the severity of COVID-19 illness is unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate whether ICI confers an additional risk for severe COVID-19 in patients with cancer.Methods We analyzed data from 110 patients with laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 while on treatment with ICI without chemotherapy in 19 hospitals in North America, Europe and Australia. The primary objective was to describe the clinical course and to identify factors associated with hospital and intensive care (ICU) admission and mortality.Findings Thirty-five (32%) patients were admitted to hospital and 18 (16%) died. All patients who died had advanced cancer, and only four were admitted to ICU. COVID-19 was the primary cause of death in 8 (7%) patients. Factors independently associated with an increased risk for hospital admission were ECOG ≥2 (OR 39.25, 95% CI 4.17 to 369.2, p=0.0013), treatment with combination ICI (OR 5.68, 95% CI 1.58 to 20.36, p=0.0273) and presence of COVID-19 symptoms (OR 5.30, 95% CI 1.57 to 17.89, p=0.0073). Seventy-six (73%) patients interrupted ICI due to SARS-CoV-2 infection, 43 (57%) of whom had resumed at data cut-off.Interpretation COVID-19–related mortality in the ICI-treated population does not appear to be higher than previously published mortality rates for patients with cancer. Inpatient mortality of patients with cancer treated with ICI was high in comparison with previously reported rates for hospitalized patients with cancer and was due to COVID-19 in almost half of the cases. We identified factors associated with adverse outcomes in ICI-treated patients with COVID-19.