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Spontaneous tumor regression following COVID-19 vaccination

2022; BMJ; Volume: 10; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1136/jitc-2021-004371

2051-1426

Luana Guimarães de Sousa, Daniel J. McGrail, Kaiyi Li, Mario L. Marques‐Piubelli, Cipriano Gonzalez, Hui Dai, Sammy Ferri‐Borgogno, Myrna C. B. Godoy, Jared K. Burks, Shiaw‐Yih Lin, Diana Bell, Renata Ferrarotto,

Neuroblastoma Research and Treatments

Vaccination against COVID-19 is critical for immuno-compromised individuals, including patients with cancer. Systemic reactogenicity, a manifestation of the innate immune response to vaccines, occurs in up to 69% of patients following vaccination with RNA-based COVID-19 vaccines. Tumor regression can occur following an intense immune-inflammatory response and novel strategies to treat cancer rely on manipulating the host immune system. Here, we report spontaneous regression of metastatic salivary gland myoepithelial carcinoma in a patient who experienced grade 3 systemic reactogenicity, following vaccination with the mRNA-1273 COVID-19 vaccine. Histological and immunophenotypic inspection of the postvaccination lung biopsy specimens showed a massive inflammatory infiltrate with scant embedded tumor clusters (<5%). Highly multiplexed imaging mass cytometry showed that the postvaccination lung metastasis samples had remarkable immune cell infiltration, including CD4+ T cells, CD8+ T cells, natural killer cells, B cells, and dendritic cells, which contrasted with very low levels of these cells in the prevaccination primary tumor and lung metastasis samples. CT scans obtained 3, 6, and 9 months after the second vaccine dose demonstrated persistent tumor shrinkage (50%, 67%, and 73% reduction, respectively), suggesting that vaccination stimulated anticancer immunity. Insight: This case suggests that the mRNA-1273 COVID-19 vaccine stimulated anticancer immunity and tumor regression.