COVID-19 in Adult Patients with Hematological Malignancies—Lessons Learned after Three Years of Pandemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic is undoubtedly the most difficult health challenge of the 21st century with more than 600 million laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infections and over 6.5 million deaths worldwide. The coronavirus pandemic contributed to rapid development of mRNA vaccines, which, along with new antiviral drugs, have been the subject of extensive research for many decades. Nevertheless, elderly, multi-morbid and immunocompromised patients continue to face a more severe clinical course and a higher risk of death from COVID-19, even now that the risk of COVID-19 in the general population is significantly reduced due to the introduction of global vaccination strategies. In this paper, we present the mechanisms of increased susceptibility to infectious complications and the evolution of the clinical course of COVID-19 in patients with hematological malignancies, taking into account the mutation of the virus and the introduction of vaccines and new antiviral drugs. We also present current recommendations for prophylactic and therapeutic management in patients with hematological malignancies.

The Role of Extracellular Vesicles in the Pathogenesis of Hematological Malignancies: Interaction with Tumor Microenvironment; a Potential Biomarker and Targeted Therapy

“…GLOBOCAN 2020 reported non-Hodgkin lymphoma to be the predominant hematological cancer worldwide with 544,352 new cases and 259,793 deaths, followed by leukemia, with 474,519 new cases and 311,594 deaths worldwide [ 80 ]. The outbreak of COVID-19 further increased the death rate of patients suffering from various hematological malignancies [ 81 , 82 , 83 , 84 , 85 ].…”

Metals and Metal Complexes in Diseases with a Focus on COVID-19: Facts and Opinions

“…The last review, written by Hus et al, was devoted to COVID-19 in adult patients with hematological malignancies (HMs). In this paper [ 13 ], the authors listed the causes of the higher susceptibility of patients with HM to infection complications and summarized the structure and variants of SARS-CoV-2 and the evolution of the COVID-19 clinical course in patients with hematological neoplasms along with virus mutations. They also collected data on the treatment of COVID-19 in patients with HM and on the COVID-19 vaccines approved in the European Union that can be used both as primary vaccination and booster together with their clinical efficacy in cancer patients.…”

“…Additionally, they graphically illustrated the history of the most important drugs (registered by the European Medicines Agency) that are currently used for the treatment of this disease and discussed the effects of COVID-19 in patients with HMs before and after COVID-19 vaccination. Finally, the authors referred to supplementation with one of the minerals that could be potentially considered in COVID-19 patients with HMs as adjunct therapy and provided current recommendations for prophylactic and therapeutic management in HM patients [ 13 ].…”