Effectiveness and safety of COVID-19 vaccines in patients with oncological diseases:State-of-the-art

Although the coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19)pandemic was declared to be no longer“a public health emergency of international concern”with its wide range of clinical manifestations and late complications,severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection proved to be a serious threat,especially to the elderly and patients with comorbidities.Patients with oncologic diseases are vulnerable to severe infection and death.Indeed,patients with oncohematological diseases have a higher risk of severe COVID-19 and impaired post-vaccination immunity.Unfortunately,cancer patients are usually excluded from vaccine trials and investigations of post-vaccinal immune responses and the effectiveness of the vaccines.We aimed to elucidate to what extent patients with cancer are at increased risk of developing severe COVID-19 and what is their overall case fatality rate.We also present the current concept and evidence on the effectiveness and safety of COVID-19 vaccines,including boosters,in oncology patients.In conclusion,despite the considerably higher mortality in the cancer patient group than the general population,countries with high vaccination rates have demonstrated trends toward improved survival of cancer patients early and late in the pandemic.

Induction of T-cell immunity against leukemia by dendritic cells pulsed with total RNA isolated from leukemia cells

Objectives To assess the feasibility and efficacy of eliciting leukemia-specific T-cell responses in syngeneic mice in vitro and in vivo using dendritic cells (DCs) pulsed with total RNA from leukemia cells.Methods DCs generated from bone marrow culture in vitro in the presence of combined cytokines were pulsed with cellular total RNA isolated from cultured L615 cells by cationic lipid 1,2-dioleoyloxy-3-(trimethylammonium) propane (DOTAP). T-cell responses were evaluated by in vitro proliferation, and cytotoxicity assay. And in vivo immune protection and proghosis of mice with leukemia were studied.Results DCs pulsed with total RNA isolated from cultured L615 cells (DCs/RNA) were remarkably effective in stimulating L615-specific T-cell response in vitro, but did not cross-react with other leukemia cells from syngeneic mice. Vaccination of naive mice with viable DCs/RNA vaccine was able to partly protect from challenge with a lethal dose of live L615 cells, leading to low leukemia incidence and overall survival prolongation. Statistically significant survival was also observed in a low lethal dose of L615-bearing mice that received treatment using viable DCs / RNA vaccine alone, suggesting that systemic administration of IL-2 could enhance the anti-tumor efficacy of leukemia RNA/DCs vaccine.Conclusions These data support the use of DCs/RNA vaccine as a feasible and effective route to elicit leukemia immunity against unidentified leukemia-associated antigens for treatment of leukemia-bearing animals.

mRNA-based modalities for infectious disease management

The novel coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19)is still rampant all over the world,causing incalculable losses to the world.Major pharmaceutical organizations around the globe are focusing on vaccine research and drug development to prevent further damage caused by the pandemic.The messenger RNA(mRNA)technology has got ample of attention after the success of the two very effective mRNA vaccines during the recent pandemic of COVID-19.mRNA vaccine has been promoted to the core stage of pharmaceutical industry,and the rapid development of mRNA technology has exceeded expectations.Beyond COVID-19,the mRNA vaccine has been tested for various infectious diseases and undergoing clinical trials.Due to the ability of constant mutation,the viral infections demand abrupt responses and immediate production,and therefore mRNA-based technology offers best answers to sudden outbreaks.The need for mRNA-based vaccine became more obvious due to the recent emergence of new Omicron variant.In this review,we summarized the unique properties of mRNA-based vaccines for infectious diseases,delivery technologies,discussed current challenges,and highlighted the prospects of this promising technology in the future.We also discussed various clinical studies as well preclinical studies conducted on mRNA therapeutics for diverse infectious diseases.

Retromer localizes to autophagosomes during HCV replication

Dear Editor,Hepatitis C virus（HCV）is a positive-strand RNA virus that belongs to the genus Hepacivirus within the Flaviviridae family.HCV causes chronic liver diseases,and185 million people are infected（Messina et al.,2015）.Currently,there is no approved vaccine to prevent hepatitis C.HCV induces autophagy through elevating reactive oxygen species（ROS）levels via the unfolded protein response （UPR） or via direct interference with the autophagic pathway.