Evaluation of sars-cov-2 serological testing in patients with multiple myeloma and other hematologic malignancies on monoclonal antibody therapies

Lenin Mahimainathan, Madhusudhanan Narasimhan, Rolando Corchado, Hetalkumari Patel, Ankit Kansagra, Sridevi Devaraj, Praveen Ramakrishnan Geethakumari, Alagarraju Muthukumar

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Background: Patients with hematological malignancies (HM), including multiple myeloma (MM), frequently suffer from immune deficiency-associated infectious complications because of both the disease and the treatment. Alarming results from China and the UK confirm the vulnerability of HM patients to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection-driven coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Given that the immunoassay interference from the endogenous monoclonal immunoglobulin (M paraprotein) and treatment antibodies continually challenges the MM management, it is critical to evaluate the SARS-CoV-2 serology tests for suspected interference/cross-reactivity. Methods: We compared the degree of interference in three SARS-CoV-2 serology assay platforms in HM patients with and without COVID-19 and on various therapeutic monoclonal antibody (t-mAb) treatments. Further, we confirmed the cross-reactivity in pooled samples from normal and COVID-19 + samples spiked with respective antibodies in vitro. Results: None of the 93 HM patient samples with or without t-MAbs showed cross-reactivity on any of the three serology platforms tested. Conclusions: The tested three serologic assays for SARS-CoV-2 are specific and do not have cross-reactivity with M-components or t-MAbs indicating that they can be used safely in oncology practice and in research exploring the immunologic response to COVID-19 in patients with HM.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number992
JournalDiagnostics
Volume10
Issue number12
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2020

Keywords

  • COVID-19
  • Cross-reactivity
  • Hematological malignancy
  • M-spike
  • Multiple myeloma
  • SARS-CoV-2
  • Serology
  • Therapeutic monoclonal antibodies

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Clinical Biochemistry

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