Immunological Effects of Covid-19 Infection in Haematology Patients
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Immunological Effects of Covid-19 Infection and Response to Vaccination in Patients with Haematological Malignancy
IRAS ID
285396
Contact name
Hugues de Lavallade
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Guy's & St Thomas' Foundation NHS Trust R&D Department
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
N/A, N/A
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Some patients with blood cancers are known to have weakened immune systems and are at increased risk from infections, including from viruses such as Covid-19. However, we do not know what effect having a blood cancer has on the way that people respond to Covid-19. People with blood cancer often require different medications to control their disease and some of these medications may also affect the response of the immune system to infection with Covid-19. A key way to protect people from certain infections is through vaccination and this can be particularly important for people with blood cancer. We do not know how patients with blood cancers will respond to vaccination and it will be important for us to study this when a vaccine becomes available. We have previously reported on the immune response to other viral infections in patients with blood cancer.
We plan to use the laboratory techniques developed previously to study the specific T lymphocyte immune response to Covid-19 in patients with blood cancer. We will analyse the immune response of those patients that have recovered from Covid-19 by re-exposing patient cells to viral proteins in the laboratory. We will also plan to study the functional immune response to vaccination in this group of patients with blood cancer. This will allow us to determine the degree of response to different vaccinations that may become available as well as providing information on the optimal vaccination schedule in this patient group.
REC name
West Midlands - Edgbaston Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
20/WM/0187
Date of REC Opinion
22 Jun 2020
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion