“People with blood cancers have higher risk of severe illness with COVID-19 infection,” said Dr. Arianne Buchan. “Our study will provide data to help understand how our patients respond to COVID-19 vaccines and will help us protect them from infection moving forward.”Blood cancer, and the treatments used to fight it, can weaken the immune system and make patients more susceptible to viruses like COVID-19. A weak immune system can also mean a weaker response to vaccines, but very little research has been done on COVID-19 vaccines in people with blood cancer.
Dr. Arianne Buchan, an infectious disease specialist and clinician investigator at The Ottawa Hospital and assistant professor at the University of Ottawa, is leading a national study to determine how well COVID-19 vaccines work in people with blood cancer. The study aims to recruit 1,400 people from more than a dozen hospitals across the country, with coordinating centres in Ottawa, Edmonton, Montreal and Toronto.
The team is recruiting participants with leukemia, lymphoma, myeloma and other kinds of blood cancer, including those who have undergone stem cell transplantation. Both unvaccinated and vaccinated people can participate. Participants will be asked to provide blood samples and fill out questionnaires.
The researchers will measure the body’s immune response to COVID-19 vaccines and track if participants develop COVID-19 over the course of the study.
“People with blood cancers have higher risk of severe illness with COVID-19 infection,” said Dr. Buchan. “Our study will provide data to help understand how our patients respond to COVID-19 vaccines and will help us protect them from infection moving forward.”
The study was awarded $2.1 million from the Government of Canada through its COVID-19 Immunity Task Force. It is one of four grants awarded to researchers at The Ottawa Hospital to investigate the immune response to COVID-19 and vaccines.
Co-Principal Investigators: Michael Sebag, Abi Vijenthira, Sita Bhella, Peng Wang
Co-Investigators: Lisa Hicks, Matthew Cheung, Curtis Cooper, Donna Reece, Joseph Brandwein, Michael Chu, Marc-André Langlois, Angela Crawley, David Allan, Natasha Kekre, Christopher Bredeson, Arleigh McCurdy, Andrew Aw, Vikas Gupta, Anca Prica, Stephen Betschel, Grame Fraser, Annette Hay, Joy Mangel, Anne-Claude Gingras, Deepali Kumar, Sasan Hosseini, Sarit Assouline, Anna Nikonova, Tony Reiman, Catherine Moltzan, Julie Stakiw, Carolyn Owen, Laurie Sehn, Shelly Bolotin, James Brooks
Partner institutions: McGill University Health Centre, University Health Network, University of Alberta, St. Michael’s Hospital, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Kingston Health Sciences Centre, London Health Sciences Centre, Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, Jewish General Hospital, Public Health Agency of Canada, Ottawa Methods Centre
About The Ottawa Hospital
The Ottawa Hospital is one of Canada’s top learning and research hospitals, where excellent care is inspired by research and driven by compassion. As the third-largest employer in Ottawa, our support staff, researchers, nurses, physicians, and volunteers never stop seeking solutions to the most complex health-care challenges. Our multi-campus hospital, affiliated with the University of Ottawa, attracts some of the most influential scientific minds from around the world. Backed by generous support from the community, we are committed to providing the world-class, compassionate care we would want for our loved ones. www.ohri.ca
Media Contact
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613-614-5253
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