New research: How T cells help blood cancer patients fight Covid-19

In a study published in Nature Medicine, researchers found that blood cancer patients with Covid-19 who had higher CD8 T cells, many of whom had depleted antibodies from cancer treatments, were more than 3 times likelier to survive than patients with fewer CD8 T cells.

The team studied hospitalised patients with both solid tumours and hematologic cancers admitted to hospitals to better understand the immune determinants of Covid-19 deaths.

Immune profiling of patient blood samples revealed that patients with blood cancers, in particular patients treated with anti-CD20 antibodies, had decreased B cells and antibodies compared to patients with solid cancers and patients without cancer.

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Additional analyses revealed that among patients with blood cancers, those with higher CD8 T cell counts had a 3.6-fold greater likelihood of survival compared to those with lower counts.

— Source: Penn Medicine News