SynthesisJournal for immunotherapy of cancer2023
COVID-19 vaccination in patients with cancer receiving immune checkpoint inhibitors: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Journal for immunotherapy of cancer, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 26 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled 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.
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.
Who cites it
26 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 24 citations in OpenAlex.
- COVID-19 vaccination and clinical outcomes of immune checkpoint inhibitors therapy in cancer patients: a meta-analysis of real-world studies.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Pooled it
- Vaccination of Adults With Cancer: ASCO Guideline.Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology · 2024Guideline
- Immune checkpoint inhibition enhances memory T-cell responses to CEF(T), SARS-CoV-2 spike proteins and ChAdOx1 nCoV-19.Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics · 2026Article
- COVID-19 vaccination around immune checkpoint inhibitor start and survival in a nationwide cohort of patients with cancer.Nature medicine · 2026Article
- Review
- COVID-19 mRNA vaccination and immune-related adverse events in patients with cancer receiving immune checkpoint inhibitors: a target trial emulation study.Journal for immunotherapy of cancer · 2026Article
- Bright side of the dark genome: antigens for next-gen cancer vaccines.Journal for immunotherapy of cancer · 2026Review
- Impact of COVID-19 vaccination on cancer patients: safety, efficacy, and long-term effects.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2025Review
- Article
- Article
- Associations between immune checkpoint inhibitor response, immune-related adverse events, and steroid use in RADIOHEAD: a prospective pan-tumor cohort study.Journal for immunotherapy of cancer · 2025Article
- Incidence of severe adverse events in cancer patients after treatment with immune-checkpoint inhibitors during the COVID- 19 pandemic.BMC immunology · 2025Article
- Impact of systemic anticancer therapy timing on cancer vaccine immunogenicity: a review.Therapeutic advances in medical oncology · 2025Review
- Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors and Vaccination: Assessing Safety, Efficacy, and Synergistic Potential.Vaccines · 2024Review
- Review
- Vaccination of Adults With Cancer: ASCO Guideline Clinical Insights.JCO oncology practice · 2024Article
- Severe acute myositis and myocarditis on initiation of 6-weekly pembrolizumab post-COVID-19 mRNA vaccination.Journal for immunotherapy of cancer · 2024Article
- Effects of antineoplastic and immunomodulating agents on postvaccination SARS-CoV-2 breakthrough infections, antibody response, and serological cytokine profile.Journal for immunotherapy of cancer · 2024Observational
- Current Technologies and Future Perspectives in Immunotherapy towards a Clinical Oncology Approach.Biomedicines · 2024Review
- mRNA vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 induce divergent antigen-specific T-cell responses in patients with lung cancer.Journal for immunotherapy of cancer · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundImmune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) can cause off-target inflammatory and immune-related adverse events (irAE). Conceivably, COVID-19 vaccination could trigger an inflammatory and immune response that could induce or aggravate irAE.
methodsThe objective of this systematic review is to appraise the efficacy and safety of COVID-19 vaccination in patients with cancer treated with ICI. The literature search was performed in PubMed and Embase in English from December 2019 to February 2022. The review included clinical trials, observational cohort studies, case series, and case reports reporting on the clinical efficacy and safety of COVID-19 vaccines on patients with cancer treated with ICI. Outcomes of interest included seroconversion, SARS-CoV-2 infection rate, severe COVID-19, COVID-19 mortality rate. Incidence of ICI irAEs was also ascertained as well as vaccine adverse events. A meta-analysis was conducted to estimate the pooled effect sizes of the outcomes when possible, using random effects models.
resultsOverall, 19 studies were included for the analysis (n=10 865 with 2477 receiving ICI). We analyzed 15 cohort studies, 1 cross-sectional study, and 3 case reports. There were no statistically significant differences in seroconversion rates after the second dose of the vaccine when comparing patients with cancer receiving ICI with patients without cancer (risk ratio, RR 0.97, 95% CI 0.92 to 1.03) or with patients with cancer without active treatment (RR 1.00, 95% CI 0.96 to 1.04). There was a higher probability of seroconversion in patients with cancer treated with ICI compared with patients with cancer treated with chemotherapy (RR 1.09, 95% CI 1.00 to 1.18). In a single study in patients receiving ICI, no differences were observed in risk of irAE between those receiving inactivated vaccine and those unvaccinated (pneumonitis RR 0.88, 95% CI 0.33 to 2.3; rash RR 1.03, 95% CI 0.66 to 1.62; arthralgia RR 0.94, 95% CI 0.51 to 1.75). There were no studies for other types of vaccines comparing vaccinated vs not vaccinated in patients treated with ICI. The most common vaccine-related adverse events were local pain or fatigue. Overall, the quality of evidence was rated as very low.
conclusionCOVID-19 vaccination appears to be effective and safe in patients with cancer receiving ICI.
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Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.