ABSTRACT
Pregnant women have an increased risk of developing severe coronavirus disease. In Brazil, the number of hospitalizations and adverse outcomes, including death caused by COVID-19, in women during the pregnancy-puerperal cycle was high in the first pandemic year. Doubts regarding vaccines' efficacy and safety for the mother and fetus delayed vaccination. This study evaluated the generation of IgG titers and neutralizing antibodies to the BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine in 209 healthy pregnant women. For this, were used the QuantiVac ELISA (IgG) and SARS-CoV-2 NeutraLISA kits (EUROIMMUN, Lübeck, SH) following the manufacturer's recommendations. One dose vaccine produced anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG in 85% (81/95), and two produced in 95% (76/80) women. Among unvaccinated women, four of 34 (12%) showed protection. The first dose of the BNT162b2 vaccine protected 69% of the women with neutralizing antibodies (median of %IH = 97). In the second dose, protection occurred in 94% of the pregnant women (median of IH% = 97). This study showed no differences in IgG antibody titers between one- and two-dose of the BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine groups, boosting with the second dose increased the number of women who produced specific IgG and neutralizing antibodies, raising by 114-folds the chance of producing the SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies compared to the unvaccinated pregnant woman, which may contribute to reduce the chance of severe COVID-19.
Subject(s)
Antibodies, Neutralizing , COVID-19 , Pregnancy , Humans , Female , Pregnant Women , SARS-CoV-2 , BNT162 Vaccine , Brazil , COVID-19/prevention & control , Antibodies, Viral , Immunoglobulin GABSTRACT
Pregnant women have an increased risk of developing severe coronavirus disease. In Brazil, the number of hospitalizations and adverse outcomes, including death caused by COVID-19, in women during the pregnancy-puerperal cycle was high in the first pandemic year. Doubts regarding vaccines' efficacy and safety for the mother and fetus delayed vaccination. This study evaluated the generation of IgG titers and neutralizing antibodies to the BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine in 209 healthy pregnant women. For this, were used the QuantiVac ELISA (IgG) and SARS-CoV-2 NeutraLISA kits (EUROIMMUN, Lübeck, SH) following the manufacturer's recommendations. One dose vaccine produced anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG in 85% (81/95), and two produced in 95% (76/80) women. Among unvaccinated women, four of 34 (12%) showed protection. The first dose of the BNT162b2 vaccine protected 69% of the women with neutralizing antibodies (median of %IH = 97). In the second dose, protection occurred in 94% of the pregnant women (median of IH% = 97). This study showed no differences in IgG antibody titers between one- and two-dose of the BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine groups, boosting with the second dose increased the number of women who produced specific IgG and neutralizing antibodies, raising by 114-folds the chance of producing the SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies compared to the unvaccinated pregnant woman, which may contribute to reduce the chance of severe COVID-19.
ABSTRACT
In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic is the major healthcare concern around the world. The infection is especially severe to those with immune system suppression, including patients with cancer. In order to mitigate the negative effects of COVID-19, guidelines have been developed by societies worldwide to review oncology care during this pandemic time. Neoadjuvant endocrine therapy (NET) is a well-stablished option for hormone positive (HR) HER2 negative breast cancer and showed a positive response in breast conservative surgery with substantially less toxicity. Compared to chemotherapy, the NET cost is lower, and its administration is easier, due to less medical visits. Even with remarkable advantages, NET remains taking less place in treatments than it might have. Periods of humanity crisis, such as World Wars and other pandemics, boosted the development of science and established many treatments, which are currently practiced. New data generated during the COVID-19 outbreak can inspire more trials comparing chemotherapy to endocrine therapy within the neoadjuvant setting. The purpose of this letter is to suggest NET as a safe low toxicity treatment strategy for breast cancer, not only to postpone breast cancer surgery during the pandemic, but also to become a standard therapy, a flame kept burning crossing the COVID-19 border.