key: cord-0993731-ki79if1t
authors: Del Poeta, Giovanni; Bomben, Riccardo; Polesel, Jerry; Rossi, Francesca Maria; Pozzo, Federico; Zaina, Eva; Cattarossi, Ilaria; Varaschin, Paola; Nanni, Paola; Boschian Boschin, Romina; Postorino, Massimiliano; Laureana, Roberta; Pasqualone, Gianmario; Steffan, Agostino; Gentile, Massimo; Zucchetto, Antonella; Gattei, Valter
title: COVID‐19 vaccination: Evaluation of risk for protection failure in chronic lymphocytic leukemia patients
date: 2021-08-30
journal: Hematol Oncol
DOI: 10.1002/hon.2916
sha: e2dec25082a8662717b8f8b6f912285fec2696dc
doc_id: 993731
cord_uid: ki79if1t

nan

To the Editor Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is one of the most frequent B cell malignancies and the most frequent leukemia in Western countries.

The disease is clinically characterized by the accumulation of CD5 +/CD19+ B lymphocytes, which are diverted from their immunoprotection role, therefore resulting in an inherent risk for CLL patient to develop infections, such a predisposition being further potentiated as the result of chemo-immuno therapies (CIT). 1, 2 Although Italy was one of the countries most severely affected by the COVID-19 outbreak, the prevalence of symptomatic COVID-19 cases in CLL was overall in keeping with the advanced median age, and the known associated immunosuppression of CLL patients. 1, 2 According to multicenter studies, however, higher rates of severe COVID-19 and of COVID-19-associated mortality were observed in these patients. 2 In this context, CLL (Figure 1 ).

Altogether, a low humoral response was documented in CLL patients undergoing COVID-19 vaccination, in keeping with the few recent studies on the topic. 5 The underlying reason(s) explaining this phenomenon may be ascribed to both therapy-related and diseaserelated factors. In our series, the majority of CLL patients on treatment (21/29) were receiving the BTK inhibitor ibrutinib, a drug that, 

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15, comma 2, lett b) LR 17/2014; "5x1000 Intramural Program", Centro di Riferimento Oncologico, Aviano, Italy.

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Italian Ministry of Health PE-2016-02362756 RF-2018-12365790, Associazione Italiana per la Ricerca sul Cancro IG-21687

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.