%0 Journal Article
%T A phase I/II study of adoptive SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells in immunocompromised hosts with or at risk of severe COVID-19 infection.
%A Seng MS
%A Ng KP
%A Soh TG
%A Tan TT
%A Chan M
%A Maiwald M
%A Tan LK
%A Linn YC
%A Leung W
%J Cytotherapy
%V 0
%N 0
%D 2024 May 18
%M 38864802
%F 6.196
%R 10.1016/j.jcyt.2024.05.014
%X <B>BACKGROUND: </B>Post-transplant or hematological cancer patients have a higher risk of mortality after infection with ancestral and early variants of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)-CoV-2. Adoptive cell therapy (ACT) with virus-specific T cells (VSTs) could augment endogenous T cell immunity to avoid disease deterioration before viral clearance.<BR><B>METHODS: </B>We established a third-party SARS-CoV-2-specific T cell (COVID-T) bank in 2020 (NCT04351659) using convalescent and/or vaccinated donors. In a phase I/II study (NCT04457726), 13 adult and pediatric patients, acutely positive for SARS-CoV-2 and predicted to have a high chance of mortality, were recruited from September 2021 to February 2022. Twelve patients received a single dose of COVID-T cells, matched on at least 1 HLA.<BR><B>RESULTS: </B>A dose of either 75,000 or 150,000 IFN-γ+CD3+ cells/m2 SARS-COV-2-specific T cells did not cause cytokine release syndrome, acute respiratory distress syndrome, or graft-versus-host disease. In the 8 patients who had detectable donor SARS-COV-2-specific T cells after ACT, none progressed to severe disease or died with COVID-19. In contrast, among the other four patients without evidence of donor micro-chimerism, two died of COVID-19.<BR><B>CONCLUSIONS: </B>Long-acting third-party VSTs from convalescent or vaccinated donors could be expediently produced and might be clinically useful in future pandemics, particularly before global vaccination is implemented.