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Objectives: Hematological malignancy (HM) patients treated with anti-CD20 monoclonal antibodies are at higher risk for severe COVID-19. A previous single-center study showed worse outcomes in patients treated with obinutuzumab compared to rituximab. We examined this hypothesis in a large international multicenter cohort., Methods: We included HM patients from 15 centers, from five countries treated with anti-CD20, comparing those treated with obinutuzumab (O-G) to rituximab (R-G) between December 2021 and June 2022, when Omicron lineage was dominant., Results: We collected data on 1048 patients. Within the R-G (n = 762, 73%), 191 (25%) contracted COVID-19 compared to 103 (36%) in the O-G. COVID-19 patients in the O-G were younger (61 ± 11.7 vs. 64 ± 14.5, p = 0.039), had more indolent HM diagnosis (aggressive lymphoma: 3.9% vs. 67.0%, p < 0.001), and most were on maintenance therapy at COVID-19 diagnosis (63.0% vs. 16.8%, p < 0.001). Severe-critical COVID-19 occurred in 31.1% of patients in the O-G and 22.5% in the R-G. In multivariable analysis, O-G had a 2.08-fold increased risk for severe-critical COVID-19 compared to R-G (95% CI 1.13-3.84), adjusted for Charlson comorbidity index, sex, and tixagevimab/cilgavimab (T-C) prophylaxis. Further analysis comparing O-G to R-G demonstrated increased hospitalizations (51.5% vs. 35.6% p = 0.008), ICU admissions (12.6% vs. 5.8%, p = 0.042), but the nonsignificant difference in COVID-19-related mortality (n = 10, 9.7% vs. n = 12, 6.3%, p = 0.293)., Conclusions: Despite younger age and a more indolent HM diagnosis, patients receiving obinutuzumab had more severe COVID-19 outcomes than those receiving rituximab. Our findings underscore the need to evaluate the risk-benefit balance when considering obinutuzumab therapy for HM patients during respiratory viral outbreaks., (© 2024 The Authors. Cancer Medicine published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Emerging data evaluated the possible link between the Coronavirus 19 (COVID-19) vaccine and acute flares of rheumatic autoimmune diseases. However, the association between the COVID-19 vaccine and the development of de-novo rheumatic autoimmune diseases remained unclear. We report the first case series of three male patients who developed new-onset systemic lupus erythematosus following receiving Pfizer BNT162b2 mRNA vaccination. The clinical characteristics share some similarities with drug-induced lupus. More patients with SLE following COVID-19 may be diagnosed in the future. Additional studies will provide more significant insights into the possible immunogenic influence of the COVID-19 vaccine., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

COVID-19, Haematological malignancies, rituximab, anti-CD20 monoclonal antibodies, obinutuzumab, SARS-CoV-2 infection Treatment with obinutuzumab leads to worse outcomes in haematological patients diagnosed with Omicron variant COVID-19 Keywords: anti-CD20 monoclonal antibodies; COVID-19; Haematological malignancies; obinutuzumab; rituximab; SARS-CoV-2 infection EN anti-CD20 monoclonal antibodies COVID-19 Haematological malignancies obinutuzumab rituximab SARS-CoV-2 infection 826 829 4 08/24/22 20220901 NES 220901 Abbreviations CAR-T chimaeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy CLL chronic lymphocytic leukaemia COVID-19 SARS-CoV-2 disease 2019 CRP C-reactive protein DLBCL diffuse large B-cell lymphoma FL follicular lymphoma HM haematological malignancies HSCT haematopoietic stem cell transplantation ICU intensive-care unit IQR interquartile range LOS length of stay mAB monoclonal antibodies NHL non-Hodgkin lymphoma PCR polymerase chain reaction PET positron emission tomography PFS progression-free survival RCHOP rituximab, cyclophosphamide, hydroxydaunorubicin hydrochloride (doxorubicin hydrochloride), vincristine (oncovin), and prednisone SMC Soroka University Medical Center T-C tixagevimab-cilgavimab VOC variant of concern Patients with haematological malignancies (HM) who fall prey to COVID-19, especially those receiving anti-CD20 monoclonal antibodies (mAB), are at a higher risk for complications, mortality, protracted disease, and relapse.1,2 Anti-CD-20 mAB became widely used for HM, especially for B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). [Extracted from the article]