e-Poster Presentation Clinical Oncology Society of Australia Annual Scientific Meeting 2021

SerOzNET: assessing COVID-19 vaccine correlates in cancer patients (#400)

Vi Luong 1 , Amy Body 1 , Luxi Lal 1 , Hesham Abdulla 1 , Elizabeth Ahern 1 , Eva Segelov 1 2
  1. Monash Health, Melbourne
  2. School of Clinical Sciences , Monash University, Melbourne

Background:

COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact Australia’s healthcare and economy in the setting of a low vaccinated population nationally(1). Despite significant COVID-19-related complications and high mortality amongst cancer patients likely due to immunosuppression, outcomes following vaccination are largely unknown(2) due to underrepresentation in key vaccine trials. To inform vaccine policy for cancer populations, it is essential to establish data regarding vaccine efficacy and adverse event profile in patients with cancer and assess interaction of these endpoints with cancer treatment type and status. The primary outcome of SerOzNET is describing immune correlates of COVID-19 vaccine in various subgroups of patients with malignancy. Secondary endpoints include patient-reported toxicities, quality of life and hesitancy.

Methods:

Oncology patients are enrolled in six cohorts representing disease status/treatment reflecting various states of immunosuppression: current chemotherapy, immunotherapy, targeted or hormonal therapy, survivorship post recent chemotherapy, haematological malignancy characterised by hypogammaglobulinaemia, previous allergy to excipients common to cancer therapeutics and COVID-19 vaccines(3). Patients will have biospecimens collected at various timepoints relative to their TGA-approved COVID-19 vaccine over six months. Peripheral blood is processed fresh with components cryostored for planned analysis: serum for neutralising antibody titres, peripheral blood mononuclear cells for functional and phenotypic T cell assays. Patients will also self-administer electronic EORTC QLQ-C30 quality-of-life and patient-reported outcome adverse event questionnaires. Medical records will be reviewed to extract relevant clinical data and significant toxicities. Vaccine hesitancy will be measured using a validated survey specific for COVID19. SerOzNET opened on 25/06/2021. To date, 101 patients have been enrolled with the average age of 55. Of those, 63% is female and 47% of patients have metastatic disease. 75.7% of patients received Pfizer. 24.3% had Astra-Zeneca. The cohort distribution is as followed: chemotherapy (n=36), hormonal therapy (n=27), immunotherapy (n=20), haematology (n=11), completed chemo (n=6), allergy group (n=1). Australian Clinical Trial Register: ACTRN12621001004853.

  1. 1. World Health Organisation, editor WHO Coronavirus (COVID-19) Dashboard2021.
  2. 2. Šálek T, Slopovský J, Pörsök Š, Pazderová N, Mináriková Z, Zomborská E, et al. COVID-19 and oncological disease. Klin Onkol. 2021;34(3):211-9.
  3. 3. Banerji A, Wickner PG, Saff R, Stone CA, Robinson LB, Long AA, et al. mRNA Vaccines to Prevent COVID-19 Disease and Reported Allergic Reactions: Current Evidence and Suggested Approach. J Allergy Clin Immunol Pract. 2021;9(4):1423-37.