A study looking at the effect of Covid 19 vaccines for people with cancer (CAPTURE)

Study design
Some people in this study had cancer, and some didn’t. Likewise, some people had already had COVID-19, and some hadn’t. The team compared the results of the different groups.

The people taking part in this study completed questionnaires which asked them about things such as:

• any COVID-19 symptoms they were having
• their general quality of life
• their medical history

They also:

• gave blood samples
• did a nose or throat swab
• had a physical examination

The research team looked at a number of different immune system responses, including the levels of neutralising antibodies. 

They compared the results of people with different cancer types. And people who didn’t have cancer. Some people taking part had already had COVID-19.

A total of 585 people took part in the main study. About 1 out of 4 had a blood cancer. This includes myeloma, lymphoma and leukaemia. And about 3 out of 4 had a solid tumour .

Results
Below is a summary for the results of this research so far. We cannot include all the details here, but we have added links to the medical journal articles if you’d like more information. 

Please note, these articles are not in plain English. They have been written for health care professionals and researchers. 

We have put the most recent results first.

Results after 4 doses of vaccine

In October 2022 the team published results about 80 people who’d had a 4th covid vaccine. They all had blood cancers such as leukaemia or lymphoma.

The researchers looked at the number of people who developed neutralising antibodies against different variants of the coronavirus. 

The results showed that more people had antibodies after the 4th vaccine than did after the 3rd vaccine. It was nearly 8 out of 10 (78 to 79%) for the omicron and delta variants. And nearly everyone (98%) for the original (wild type) variant.

When they looked in more detail, they found that people who’d had certain treatments were less likely to develop antibodies. This included people who’d had:

• anti CD20 treatments such as rituximab, up to a year before having the vaccine
• BTK inhibitors such as ibrutinib, up to a month before having the vaccine

The team concluded that it was beneficial for people with blood cancer to have a 4th dose of covid vaccine.

You can read more about this here:

Functional immune responses against SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern after fourth COVID-19 vaccine dose or infection in patients with blood cancer
A Fendler and others
Cell Reports Medicine (2022). Volume 3, issue 10, article 100781.

Results after 3 doses of vaccine

In January 2022, the research team published results for 199 people who’d had 3 doses of a Covid-19 vaccine. In this analysis they looked at antibody levels for the omicron variant.

Just less than 4 out of 10 people (37%) with a solid tumour had antibodies to the omicron variant after 2 doses. This increased to 9 out of 10 people (90%) after 3 doses. 

And about 2 out of 10 people (19%) with a blood cancer had omicron antibodies after 2 doses. This increased to nearly 6 out of 10 people (56%) after 3 doses.

You can read more about this here:

Omicron neutralising antibodies after third COVID-19 vaccine dose in patients with cancer
A Fendler and others
The Lancet (2022). Volume 399, Issue 10328, Pages 905 - 907

In December 2021, the team published results for 199 people who’d had 3 doses of a COVID-19 vaccine. In this analysis they looked at antibodies for the delta variant.

Everyone who had antibodies after the first 2 doses had an increase in antibodies after the third dose. 

But 102 people didn’t have antibodies after the first 2 doses. Most people with a solid tumour (94%) and about half of people with a blood cancer (54%) did have antibodies after a third dose.

You can read more about these results here:

Immune responses following third COVID-19 vaccination are reduced in patients with hematological malignancies compared to patients with solid cancer
A Fendler and others
Cancer Cell (2022). Volume 40, Issue 2, Pages 114 – 116 (published online December 2021)

Results after 2 doses of vaccine

In October 2021, the research team published results about people who’d had 2 doses of a COVID-19 vaccine.

The team looked at the number of people who had neutralising antibodies against the original coronavirus, and the alpha, beta and delta variants. 

They looked at the number of people who had antibodies to the original virus. They found it was:

• more than 8 out of 10 people with cancer (83%) 
• nearly everyone who didn’t have cancer (99%) 

The number of people with cancer who had antibodies to the alpha, beta and delta variants was a lot lower. Between around 5 and 6 out of 10 people (53% to 61%).

You can read more about these results here:

Adaptive immunity and neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern following vaccination in patients with cancer: the CAPTURE study
A Fendler and others
Nature Cancer (2021). Volume 2, Pages 1305 – 1320

Functional antibody and T cell immunity following SARS-CoV-2 infection, including by variants of concern, in patients with cancer: the CAPTURE study
A Fendler and others
Nature Cancer (2021). Volume 2, Pages 1321 – 1337

Where this information comes from
We have based this summary on information from the research team. The information they sent us has been reviewed by independent specialists (peer reviewed ) and published in a medical journal. The figures we quote above were provided by the trial team who did the research. We have not analysed the data ourselves.