KEY TAKEAWAYS
- The study aimed to investigate the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines in preventing SARS-CoV-2 infection in patients with HCC.
- Researchers noticed that COVID-19 vaccines effectively reduced SARS-CoV-2 infection.
The efficacy of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines in preventing SARS-CoV-2 infection in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is not clear.
He Zhao and the team aimed to investigate how well COVID-19 vaccines work in this specific population, given their unique health challenges and increased risk for severe COVID-19 outcomes.
They performed an inclusive analysis of patients diagnosed with HCC from January 2022 to October 2022 within a prospective, multicenter, observational cohort. Data on vaccination status and SARS-CoV-2 infection rates were collected and analyzed to evaluate the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines in preventing infections among this patient population.
About 141 patients, including 107 with COVID-19 vaccination and 34 without, were analyzed. The number of patients experiencing severe or very severe infections was relatively lower in the vaccinated group (3.7% vs. 11.8%, P = 0.096).
Median infection-free survival was significantly longer in the vaccinated group (14.0 vs. 8.3 months, P = 0.010). COVID-19 vaccination (hazard ratio (HR) = 0.47), European Cooperative Oncology Group performance score = 0 (HR = 2.06), and extrahepatic spread (HR = 0.28) were identified as independent predictive factors for infection-free survival.
The study concluded that COVID-19 vaccines could effectively reduce SARS-CoV-2 infection in patients with HCC, demonstrating improved infection-free survival and a lower incidence of severe infections among the vaccinated group.
This study was funded by the National Natural Science Fund of China [Grant number: 82330061 to X.L.], the CAMS Initiative for Innovative Medicine [Grant number: 2021-I2M-1-015-3 to X.L.], the National Health Commission Capacity Building And Continuing Education Center Annual Project [Grant number: GWJJ2024100302 to H.Z.] and the Beijing Hope Run Special Fund of Cancer Foundation of China [Grant number: LC2021C03 to Y.L].
Source: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39119737/
Zhao H, Li Y, Tian P, et al. (2024). “Efficacy and prognostic factors of COVID-19 vaccine in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma: Analysis of data from a prospective cohort study.” Cancer Med. 2024 Aug;13(15):e70068. doi: 10.1002/cam4.70068. PMID: 39119737.
