High seroconversion rates amongst black and Hispanics with hematologic malignancies after SARS-CoV-2 vaccination

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Ethics approval

This study protocol was reviewed and approved by Montefiore Medical Center Institutional Review Board, approval number 2020-11814.

Patient consent statement

Written informed consent was obtained from participants to participate in the study. The protocol also allowed data collection via retrospective chart review for a small number of patients who underwent anti-SARS-CoV-2 spike IgG antibody testing after vaccination as ordered at the discretion of their oncologist.

Author contributions

LCS, AT, BH, AV, LB-R, and AS designed the study. LCS, RG, AT, JDG-L, AHB, SR, KF, MA, NK, KG, MG, AS, IM, IB, BH, AV, MC, LBR and AS participated in patient recruitment and data collection. KP and LCS analyzed and interpreted the data. LCS wrote the first draft of manuscript and AT and AS provided a critical review of the letter's content. All authors reviewed the manuscript and approved the final letter.

Disclosure statement

AS has received research funding from Kymera Therapeutics, Honoraria from Onclive and Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Consulting fees from Jansen Pharmaceuticals. AV has received research funding from GlaxoSmithKline, BMS, Jannsen, Incyte, MedPacto, Celgene, Novartis, Curis, Prelude, and Eli Lilly and Company, has received compensation as a scientific advisor to Novartis, Stelexis Therapeutics, Acceleron Pharma, and Celgene, and has equity ownership in Stelexis Therapeutics. AS serves as a consultant with Morphosys and Miragen and is on the faculty at Physicians’ Education Research. The remaining authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Additional information

Funding

We acknowledge Albert Einstein Cancer Center grant P30 CA013330 and NCORP grant 2UG1CA189859-06 in providing funding for this project. This work was supported partly by the Jane A. and Myles P. Dempsey fund, the Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation Diversity in Clinical Trials Career Development Grant to AS, and a gift from the Chirico and Englander families. Our funding sources did not participate in the preparation of data or the manuscript.