A research project at Odense University Hospital has mapped how the immune system of 524 cancer patients develops after they have been vaccinated against covid-19.
The results can be used in relation to who should be offered a third plug with the vaccine against covid-19.
This is the opinion of Henrik Ditzel, who has been the research leader on the project and who is chief physician and professor at Odense University Hospital.
“Our studies provide important knowledge in relation to who needs an extra plug, and I believe that it must be the haematological cancer patients and those who have received chemotherapy during the vaccination process who must have the offer,” he says. .
Research has shown that patients with so-called solid cancers develop good antibodies after vaccination, but patients with haematological cancers do not produce as many antibodies.
Solid cancers include breast, lung, prostate and colon cancers, while haematological cancers include lymphatic leukemia, lymphoma and multiple myeloma.
– About a quarter of those with haematological cancers do not form a satisfactory antibody response and after three months their antibody response looks even worse, says Henrik Ditzel.
– This indicates that the group does not respond as well to the vaccine. The reason they do not do this is because the cancer affects the white blood cells, which are the ones that have to make the antibody response, he continues.
Among patients with solid cancers, relatively few did not develop sufficient antibodies. Virtually everyone who did not develop enough antibodies was in active treatment with chemotherapy or targeted treatment during their vaccination course.
Those who were on radiation therapy or immunotherapy developed good antibody response.
At a press conference on Monday, Sรธren Brostrรธm, director of the National Board of Health, said that new guidelines for a third vaccination plug for special groups will be presented during this week.
These include cancer patients and organ transplant patients.
Of the 524 cancer patients studied, 201 with solid cancers and 323 with haematological cancer.
The research results have been published in the scientific journal Cancer Cell.
Source: The Nordic Page