Abstract
Since the emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in China at the end of 2019, the virus has spread rapidly across the globe leading to millions of infections and subsequent deaths. Although the virus infects those exposed indiscriminately, there are groups in society at an increased risk of severe infection, leading to increased morbidity. Patients suffering from hematological cancers, particularly leukemia, lymphoma, and myeloma, may be one such group and previous studies have suggested that they may be at a three to four times greater risk of severe COVID-19 after SARS-CoV-2 infection, leading to admissions to ICU, mechanical ventilation, and death compared to those without such malignancies. Serological testing for IgG seroconversion has been extensively studied in the immunocompetent, but fewer publications have characterized this process in large series of immunocompromised patients. This study described 20 patients with hematological cancers who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 via PCR with 12 of the patients receiving further serological testing. We found that of the 12 patients screened for SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies, only 2 (16.6%) were able to generate an immune response to the infection. Yet despite this low seroconversion rate in this cohort, none of these patients died or became particularly unwell with COVID-19 or its related complications.
Keywords: SARS coronavirus; immune responses; immunoglobulin; virus classification.
【저자키워드】 Immunoglobulin, immune responses, SARS Coronavirus, virus classification, 【초록키워드】 SARS-CoV-2, IgG, Severe infection, coronavirus, immune response, severe COVID-19, mechanical ventilation, SARS-COV-2 infection, Infection, Immunocompromised patients, risk, virus, immune, ICU, Spread, China, Cohort, Seroconversion, PCR, Serological testing, lymphoma, morbidity, Patient, death, complications, group, Admission, leukemia, deaths, hematological cancer, acute respiratory syndrome, increased risk, SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies, malignancies, previous study, positive, infect, greater, tested, described, globe, the patient, subsequent, generate, receiving, screened, characterized, suggested, hematological cancers, low seroconversion rate, patients died, with COVID-19, 【제목키워드】 SARS-CoV-2, coronavirus, Seroconversion, Patient, acute respiratory syndrome,