Convalescent hyperimmune plasma for chemo-immunotherapy induced immunodeficiency in COVID-19 patients with hematological malignancies

Leuk Lymphoma. 2021 Jun;62(6):1490-1496. doi: 10.1080/10428194.2021.1872070. Epub 2021 Jan 18.

Abstract

During the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) outbreak, patients with defective immunity after chemo-immunotherapy due to hematological disorders showed prolonged symptoms and worse prognosis of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pneumonia, probably due to inadequate adaptive immune response and noneffective viral clearance. We describe a single-center series of hematological immunocompromised patients undergoing passive immunization with hyperimmune plasma for persistent COVID-19 symptoms. In all cases, such treatment was well tolerated and contributed to clinical and radiological improvement and recovery; viral clearance was also achieved in a patients' subset. Although requiring further investigation, these results suggest a specific role for hyperimmune plasma administration in hematological patients.

Keywords: COVID-19; hyperimmune plasma; immunodeficiency; onco-hematological patients.

MeSH terms

  • COVID-19*
  • Hematologic Neoplasms* / complications
  • Hematologic Neoplasms* / diagnosis
  • Hematologic Neoplasms* / therapy
  • Humans
  • Immunization, Passive
  • Immunologic Deficiency Syndromes*
  • SARS-CoV-2