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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Med.
Sec. Infectious Diseases: Pathogenesis and Therapy
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmed.2025.1516492
This article is part of the Research Topic SARS-CoV-2 Vaccines Beyond the Pandemic Era View all 24 articles
COVID-19 inactivated booster vaccines elicit strong protection against SARS-CoV-2 wild-type and Oomicron variant in patients with breast cancer
Provisionally accepted- Peking Union Medical College Hospital (CAMS), Beijing, China
Background: Patients with breast cancer are at risk of severe COVID-19 and related mortality. Among these patients, the ability of inactivated vaccine-induced antibodies to neutralize SARS-CoV-2 and its omicron variant after injecting thea third SARS-CoV-2 vaccine dose remains unclear.Methods: Blood samples from 211 breast cancer patients and 155 healthy controls after one1, two2 or three doses of3 inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccinenation doses were analyzed. Levels of anti-SARS-CoV-2 total antibodies, anti-receptor binding domain (RBD) IgG, and neutralizing antibodies (NAbs) against both SARS-CoV-2 wild-type and the BA.4/BA.5 (Omicron) variant, and as well as lymphocyte subsets, were measured at 2two weeks to 3three months and more than 6six months after the second and third vaccinations, respectively.Results: Levels of aAnti-RBD IgG and NAbs inhibition rates against both wild-type and the BA.4/BA.5 (Omicron) variant were significantly higher in breast cancer patients after the third dose compared tothan those after the second dose, which was lower than in the healthy controls. Univariate analysis revealed that > 6 months after receiving two or three doses being vaccinated was associated with undetectable NAbs against wild-type compared to those at 2two weeks to 3three months of receiving two or three doses. Additionally, patients agesd 60 or older were correlated with undetectable NAbs against the BA.4/BA.5 (Omicron) variant. Immune reponses after two or three doses were not affected by eEndocrine therapy, either currently therapy or at the vaccination, did not affect immune responses after 2 or 3 doses. Notably, univariate and multivariate analyses revealed that the vaccination of breast cancer patients with CoronaVac resulted in caused significantly higher rates of NAbs inhibition rates against wild-type compared to BBIBP-CorV among breast cancer patients.Breast cancer patients boosted with a third dose of inactivated vaccinescancer demonstrated the potent neutralization of SARS-CoV-2 and the Oomicron variant compared to receiving one or two doses. Vaccination-mediated NAbs induction wasis affected by age, time > 6 months after vaccination, vaccine type, and cancer-targeted treatment. Therefore, the study resultsit indicated an urgent need for caution and to provide additional strategies to protect thesethe patients.
Keywords: breast cancer, SARS-CoV-2, antibody, Vaccination, Immunisation
Received: 24 Oct 2024; Accepted: 12 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Li, Xu, Li, Li, Liu, Zhan, Sun and Li. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Yongzhe Li, Peking Union Medical College Hospital (CAMS), Beijing, China
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