1
|
Ripoll JG, Tulledge-Scheitel SM, Stephenson AA, Ford S, Pike ML, Gorman EK, Hanson SN, Juskewitch JE, Miller AJ, Zaremba S, Ovrom EA, Razonable RR, Ganesh R, Hurt RT, Fischer EN, Derr AN, Eberle MR, Larsen JJ, Carney CM, Theel ES, Parikh SA, Kay NE, Joyner MJ, Senefeld JW. Outpatient treatment with concomitant vaccine-boosted convalescent plasma for patients with immunosuppression and COVID-19. mBio 2024; 15:e0040024. [PMID: 38602414 PMCID: PMC11078006 DOI: 10.1128/mbio.00400-24] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/08/2024] [Accepted: 03/21/2024] [Indexed: 04/12/2024] Open
Abstract
Although severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and hospitalization associated with COVID-19 are generally preventable among healthy vaccine recipients, patients with immunosuppression have poor immunogenic responses to COVID-19 vaccines and remain at high risk of infection with SARS-CoV-2 and hospitalization. In addition, monoclonal antibody therapy is limited by the emergence of novel SARS-CoV-2 variants that have serially escaped neutralization. In this context, there is interest in understanding the clinical benefit associated with COVID-19 convalescent plasma collected from persons who have been both naturally infected with SARS-CoV-2 and vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2 ("vax-plasma"). Thus, we report the clinical outcome of 386 immunocompromised outpatients who were diagnosed with COVID-19 and who received contemporary COVID-19-specific therapeutics (standard-of-care group) and a subgroup who also received concomitant treatment with very high titer COVID-19 convalescent plasma (vax-plasma group) with a specific focus on hospitalization rates. The overall hospitalization rate was 2.2% (5 of 225 patients) in the vax-plasma group and 6.2% (10 of 161 patients) in the standard-of-care group, which corresponded to a relative risk reduction of 65% (P = 0.046). Evidence of efficacy in nonvaccinated patients cannot be inferred from these data because 94% (361 of 386 patients) of patients were vaccinated. In vaccinated patients with immunosuppression and COVID-19, the addition of vax-plasma or very high titer COVID-19 convalescent plasma to COVID-19-specific therapies reduced the risk of disease progression leading to hospitalization.IMPORTANCEAs SARS-CoV-2 evolves, new variants of concern (VOCs) have emerged that evade available anti-spike monoclonal antibodies, particularly among immunosuppressed patients. However, high-titer COVID-19 convalescent plasma continues to be effective against VOCs because of its broad-spectrum immunomodulatory properties. Thus, we report clinical outcomes of 386 immunocompromised outpatients who were treated with COVID-19-specific therapeutics and a subgroup also treated with vaccine-boosted convalescent plasma. We found that the administration of vaccine-boosted convalescent plasma was associated with a significantly decreased incidence of hospitalization among immunocompromised COVID-19 outpatients. Our data add to the contemporary data providing evidence to support the clinical utility of high-titer convalescent plasma as antibody replacement therapy in immunocompromised patients.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Juan G. Ripoll
- Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA
| | | | - Anthony A. Stephenson
- Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA
| | - Shane Ford
- Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA
| | - Marsha L. Pike
- Department of Nursing, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Rochester, Minnesota, USA
| | - Ellen K. Gorman
- Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA
| | - Sara N. Hanson
- Department of Family Medicine, Mayo Clinic Health Care System, Mankato, Minnesota, USA
| | - Justin E. Juskewitch
- Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA
| | - Alex J. Miller
- Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA
| | - Solomiia Zaremba
- Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA
| | - Erik A. Ovrom
- Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA
| | - Raymund R. Razonable
- Division of Public Health, Infectious Diseases, and Occupational Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA
| | - Ravindra Ganesh
- Division of General Internal Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA
| | - Ryan T. Hurt
- Division of General Internal Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA
| | - Erin N. Fischer
- Department of Nursing, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Rochester, Minnesota, USA
| | - Amber N. Derr
- Division of Hematology and Infusion Therapy, Rochester, Minnesota, USA
| | - Michele R. Eberle
- Mayo Clinic Health System Northwest Wisconsin, Eau Claire, Wisconsin, USA
| | | | | | - Elitza S. Theel
- Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA
| | | | - Neil E. Kay
- Division of Hematology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA
- Department of Immunology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA
| | - Michael J. Joyner
- Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA
- Department of Physiology and Biomedical Engineering, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA
| | - Jonathon W. Senefeld
- Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA
- Department of Physiology and Biomedical Engineering, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA
- Department of Health and Kinesiology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois, USA
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Franchini M, Focosi D. The Role of Convalescent Plasma in COVID-19: A Conclusive Post-Pandemic Review. Life (Basel) 2023; 13:2322. [PMID: 38137923 PMCID: PMC10744384 DOI: 10.3390/life13122322] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/06/2023] [Revised: 12/05/2023] [Accepted: 12/06/2023] [Indexed: 12/24/2023] Open
Abstract
COVID-19 convalescent plasma (CCP) has represented the frontline response to the COVID-19 pandemic, largely because of encouraging historical evidences in previous pandemics, biological plausibility, and the initial unavailability of targeted antivirals. Unfortunately, investigator-initiated randomized clinical trials in 2020, launched during a stressful pandemic peak, were designed mostly at addressing the main unmet need, i.e., treating critically ill hospitalized patients who were unlikely to benefit from any antiviral therapy. The failure of most of these drugs, in combination with the lack of any sponsor, led to the false belief that convalescent plasma was useless. With the relaxing pandemic stages, evidences have instead mounted that, when administered properly (i.e., within 5 days from onset of symptoms and at high titers of neutralizing antibodies), CCP is as effective as other antivirals at preventing disease progression in outpatients, and also reduces mortality in hospitalized patients. Recently, the focus of clinical use has been on immunosuppressed patients with persistent seronegativity and infection, where a randomized clinical trial has shown a reduction in mortality. Lessons learnt during the COVID-19 pandemic will be of utmost importance for future pandemics.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Massimo Franchini
- Department of Transfusion Medicine and Hematology, Carlo Poma Hospital, 46100 Mantua, Italy
| | - Daniele Focosi
- North-Western Tuscany Blood Bank, Pisa University Hospital, 56124 Pisa, Italy;
| |
Collapse
|