Case Report: Convalescent Plasma Therapy Induced Anti-SARS-CoV-2 T Cell Expansion, NK Cell Maturation and Virus Clearance in a B Cell Deficient Patient After CD19 CAR T Cell Therapy

• Main Authors: Berislav Bošnjak, Ivan Odak, Christiane Ritter, Klaus Stahl, Theresa Graalmann, Lars Steinbrück, Rainer Blasczyk, Christine S. Falk, Thomas F. Schulz, Hans Heinrich Wedemeyer, Markus Cornberg, Arnold Ganser, Reinhold Förster, Christian Koenecke
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-08-01
• Series: Frontiers in Immunology
• Subjects: convalescent plasma (CP); COVID – 19; SARS – CoV – 2; NK cell; T cell; CD19 CAR-T cell
• Online Access: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2021.721738/full
• ISSN: 1664-3224

Here, we described the case of a B cell-deficient patient after CD19 CAR-T cell therapy for refractory B cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma with protracted coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). For weeks, this patient only inefficiently contained the virus while convalescent plasma transfusion correlated with virus clearance. Interestingly, following convalescent plasma therapy natural killer cells matured and virus-specific T cells expanded, presumably allowing virus clearance and recovery from the disease. Our findings, thus, suggest that convalescent plasma therapy can activate cellular immune responses to clear SARS-CoV-2 infections. If confirmed in larger clinical studies, these data could be of general importance for the treatment of COVID-19 patients.