Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34880703›Full record

ArticleJournal of central nervous system disease2021

Humoral immune response and lymphocyte levels after complete vaccination against COVID-19 in a cohort of multiple sclerosis patients treated with cladribine tablets.

Christoph Grothe, Falk Steffen, Stefan Bittner

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of central nervous system disease, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
12citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
1.1field-weighted citation impact, top 19% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

12 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 24 citations in OpenAlex.

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  3. Observational
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Christoph GrotheGFO Kliniken Troisdorf, Troisdorf (Sieglar), Germany.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6817-6692
Falk SteffenKlinik und Poliklinik für Neurologie, Universitätsmedizin der Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, Germany.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3708-8600
Stefan BittnerKlinik und Poliklinik für Neurologie, Universitätsmedizin der Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, Germany.
Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz · DE

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundPatients with multiple sclerosis (MS) receiving immunomodulatory drugs were excluded from clinical trials on COVID-19 vaccines. Therefore, data regarding the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines to induce humoral immunity in MS patients treated with B- and T-cell depleting agents is urgently warranted. Cladribine tablets are a high-efficacy disease-modifying treatment that exerts its therapeutic effect via sustained but transient lymphocyte depletion.

aimWe report humoral responses in a German cohort of MS patients treated with cladribine tablets.

methodsThis retrospective analysis included patients ≥18 years who were treated with cladribine tablets for relapsing MS in the first or second year and were fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Two weeks after the second vaccination at the earliest, blood samples were obtained for the assessment of anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies, lymphocyte counts, B-cells, CD4

resultsIn total, 38 patients (73.7% female, aged 23-66 years) were included in the analysis. Ten patients (26.3%) were treatment-naïve before initiating treatment with cladribine tablets. Most patients (84.2%) received mRNA vaccines. The time between the last dose of cladribine tablets and vaccination ranged between 2 and 96 weeks. Six patients (15.8%) were vaccinated within 4 weeks of their last cladribine dose. All patients achieved positive anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibody levels. Humoral immune response was independent of age, time of vaccination in relation to the last cladribine dose, lymphocyte counts as well as B- and T-cell counts.

conclusionsTreatment with cladribine tablets did not impair humoral response to COVID-19 vaccination. Time since last cladribine dose, age, prior therapy, lymphocyte count as well as B- and T-cell counts had no effect on seropositivity of anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies.

Indexed as

Cladribine tabletsCOVID-19humoral immune responselymphopeniamultiple sclerosisSARS-CoV-2

Identifiers

PMID34880703
PMCPMC8647228
OpenAlexW4206521061

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.