SARS-COV-2 infection in cancer patients undergoing checkpoint blockade: clinical course and outcome
Ce dossier présente un ensemble d'articles concernant la prise en charge des cancers durant la crise sanitaire liée au COVID-19
The potential interplay between Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection and treatment with immune-checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) of cancer patients is presently unknown.1 In this context, the increasing spreading of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic does not help; in fact, major health resources are being redirected to counteract the pandemic2, raising the concrete risk to hamper cancer care significantly3. As a result, the COVID-19 status of cancer patients is generally not evaluated at the beginning and/or in the course of their medical treatment. Additionally, the vast majority of cancer patients receive therapy on an out-patients basis; thus, asymptomatic COVID-19 positive patients are generally free to access the Oncology Units, representing a major challenge for the possible transmission of SARS-CoV-2 to hospital personnel. On the other hand, these very same patients are challenged with the potential risk that ICI therapy may exacerbate the clinical course of their COVID-19 infection and/or that COVID-19 infection may worsen ICI-related side effects. In this composite and potentially cross-interfering scenario, sharing with the oncology community initial observations, even on a limited number of cases, may support treating physicians in their daily practice.
European Journal of Cancer , éditorial en libre accès, 2019