Immunotherapy safe for patients with COVID-19, cancer

Date:
July 20, 2020
Source:
University of Cincinnati
Summary:
Initial findings from a new study show that immunotherapy for
cancer won't worsen complications for patients with the disease
and COVID-19.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Preliminary data from researchers at the University of Cincinnati Cancer
Center show that immunotherapy doesn't necessarily worsen complications
for patients with both COVID-19 and cancer.


==========================================================================
This data is being presented by Layne Weatherford, PhD, UC postdoctoral
fellow, at the American Association for Cancer Research Virtual Meeting: COVID-19 and Cancer, Monday, July 20.

Weatherford works in the lab of Trisha Wise-Draper, PhD, an associate
professor of medicine, Division of Hematology Oncology, at the UC College
of Medicine, UC Health oncologist and medical director of the UC Cancer
Center Clinical Trials Office.

"Many COVID-19 complications result from an overactive immune response,
leading to an increased production of proteins called cytokines,"
Weatherford says.

"Increased production of these proteins can cause issues like respiratory failure. Patients with cancer are more susceptible to COVID-19 infection
as well as severe complications from it.

"Many patients with cancer are treated with immunotherapy, which activates
the immune system against cancer to destroy it. In patients with both
COVID-19 and cancer, our team thought that immunotherapy might increase
the immune system response, which could already be overactive because of
the COVID-19 infection." Wise-Draper says researchers thought treating COVID-19 patients with cancer immunotherapy might result in worsening
patients' health and overall outcomes.

"We are continuing to investigate whether immunotherapy causes an
increased production of these proteins by immune cells from COVID-19
patients, but our initial findings are showing that immunotherapy is
not significantly impacting it," she adds.

Researchers are conducting this study using blood samples from patients
with cancer taken from the UC COVID-19 biorepository, which Kris Hudock,
MD, assistant professor in the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and
Sleep Medicine at the UC College of Medicine, oversees.

"We are examining how immune checkpoint inhibitors, drugs that allow
immune cells to respond more strongly, in combination with other
treatments, like chemotherapy or radiation, affect the immune cells of
COVID-19 patients and patients with both COVID-19 and cancer," she says.

She and Weatherford add that their preliminary data show that an
anti-diabetic drug, metformin, can reduce production of these proteins
by immune cells of COVID-19 patients.

"These are promising, initial findings," Wise-Draper says. "Additional
research is needed, but our results show that we might be able to treat COVID-19 complications with metformin or a similar drug one day."

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Cincinnati. Original
written by Katie Pence. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


==========================================================================


Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200720102046.htm

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