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 Vaccines weaker than expected in multiple myeloma patients
Coronavirus vaccines are known to be less protective in people with
the blood cancer multiple myeloma, such as former U.S. Secretary of
State Colin Powell, who died on Monday of complications from
COVID-19 despite being fully vaccinated. The release of a new study
sheds light on the vulnerability of multiple myeloma patients to the
coronavirus. The study, expected to appear online on Monday in
Cancer Cell https://www.cell.com/cancer-cell/home, reveals these
patients not only produce fewer neutralizing antibodies in response
to the vaccines, but also have a weak response from the immune
system's T cells.
While antibodies attack the virus as it circulates in the body, T
cells attack the cells that have been infected, or they produce
important signals that lead to other immune responses, limiting the
extent of the infection. In the study of 44 patients with multiple
myeloma who had received both doses of an mRNA vaccine from Pfizer/BioNTech
or Moderna, those with low or no antibody response to the COVID-19
mRNA also had few or no T cells that could have helped to protect
them from a severe COVID-19 infection, according to the report. "The
unexpected lack of T cell responses, coupled with the absence of
antibodies following SARS-CoV-2 vaccination, is of concern," study
leader Dr. Samir Parekh of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount
Sinai in New York City, said in a statement. The researchers said
the finding emphasizes the need for blood tests to monitor immune
responses in these patients after vaccination.
[to top of second column] |
 Claims of stem cell treatments
for COVID-19 are bogus
Numerous businesses have made unsubstantiated
and inaccurate claims about supposed stem cell
products to treat COVID-19, researchers said in
a paper on Thursday in the journal Stem Cell
Reports https://bit.ly/3lPOuIM. Their paper
cites more than 20 companies that have received
warning letters from the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration or Federal Trade Commission for
promoting unlicensed stem cell treatments for
COVID-19. xactly how many
businesses are involved in manufacturing or selling these bogus
products directly to consumers is unknown, according to the authors.
Stem cells, from which other cells with specialized functions can be
generated, are presently used to treat only a few diseases and
conditions. No such therapy has been approved by government
regulators for preventing or treating COVID-19. Many advertisements
falsely claim their therapies' effectiveness and safety are
supported by evidence. "The spread of such misinformation has
potential to cause real harm to patient safety and public health by
making it difficult or impossible for patients and other members of
the public to distinguish evidence-based scientific claims from
pseudoscience and quackery," the authors said.
Click for a Reuters graphic https://tmsnrt.rs/3c7R3Bl on vaccines in
development.
(Reporting by Nancy Lapid; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
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