Protective role of Bruton tyrosine kinase inhibitors in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia and COVID‐19

Santiago Thibaud

Douglas Tremblay

Sheena Bhalla

Brittney Zimmerman

Keith Sigel

Janice Gabrilove

^{Division of Hematology and Medical Oncology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York NY, USA,}

^{Division of Infectious Diseases, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinaii, New York NY, USA,}

Janice Gabrilove, Email: ude.mssm@evolirbag.ecinaj.

^{Corresponding author.}

^{^*}E‐mail: ude.mssm@evolirbag.ecinaj,

Received 2020 May 14; Accepted 2020 May 17.

Keywords: BTK inhibitors, CLL, COVID‐19

This article is being made freely available through PubMed Central as part of the COVID-19 public health emergency response. It can be used for unrestricted research re-use and analysis in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source, for the duration of the public health emergency.

References

1. Huang C, Wang Y, Li X, Ren L, Zhao J, Hu Y, et al. Clinical features of patients infected with 2019 novel coronavirus in Wuhan, China. Lancet. 2020;395:497–506.
2. Niemann CU, Herman SE, Maric I, Gomez‐Rodriguez J, Biancotto A, Chang BY, et al. Disruption of in vivo Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Tumor‐Microenvironment Interactions by Ibrutinib‐Findings from an Investigator‐Initiated Phase II Study. Clin Cancer Res. 2016;22:1572–82.
3. Florence JM, Krupa A, Booshehri LM, Davis SA, Matthay MA, Kurdowska AK. Inhibiting Bruton's tyrosine kinase rescues mice from lethal influenza‐induced acute lung injury. Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol. 2018;315:L52–L58.
4. Yoshikawa T, Hill T, Li K, Peters CJ, Tseng CT. Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) coronavirus‐induced lung epithelial cytokines exacerbate SARS pathogenesis by modulating intrinsic functions of monocyte‐derived macrophages and dendritic cells. J Virol. 2009;83:3039–48.
5. Treon SP, Castillo J, Skarbnik AP, Soumerai JD, Ghobrial IM, Guerrera ML, et al. The BTK‐inhibitor ibrutinib may protect against pulmonary injury in COVID‐19 infected patients. Blood. 2020;135:1912–5.
6. Ravandi F, O'Brien S. Immune defects in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Cancer Immunol Immunother. 2006;55:197–209. [[PubMed]
7. Varughese T, Taur Y, Cohen N, Palomba ML, Seo SK, Hohl TM, et al. Serious Infections in Patients Receiving Ibrutinib for Treatment of Lymphoid Cancer. Clin Infect Dis. 2018;67:687–92.
8. Channappanavar R, Fehr AR, Vijay R, Mack M, Zhao J, Meyerholz DK, et al. Dysregulated Type I Interferon and Inflammatory Monocyte‐Macrophage Responses Cause Lethal Pneumonia in SARS‐CoV‐Infected Mice. Cell Host Microbe. 2016;19:181–93.
9. Mehta V, Goel S, Kabarriti R, Cole D, Goldfinger M, Acuna‐Villaorduna A, et al. Case fatality rate of cancer patients with COVID‐19 in a New York Hospital System. Cancer Discov; 2020. [Epub ahead of print]. 10.1158/2159-8290.CD-20-0516. [[PubMed]
10. Alsadhan AA, Cheung J, Gulrajani M, Cook EM, Pittaluga S, Davies‐Hill T, et al. Variable Bruton Tyrosine Kinase (BTK) Resynthesis across Patients with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) on Acalabrutinib Therapy Affect Target Occupancy and Reactivation of B‐Cell Receptor (BCR) Signaling. Blood. 2018;132:4401–1. [PubMed]
11. Hematology;., A.S.o. (2020) COVID‐19 and CLL: Frequently Asked Questions. In: COVID‐19 Resources, .[PubMed]
12. Castillo JJ, Gustine JN, Meid K, Dubeau T, Severns P, Treon SP. Ibrutinib withdrawal symptoms in patients with Waldenstrom macroglobulinemia. Haematologica. 2018;103:e307–e310.
13. Tillman BF, Pauff JM, Satyanarayana G, Talbott M, Warner JL. Systematic review of infectious events with the Bruton tyrosine kinase inhibitor ibrutinib in the treatment of hematologic malignancies. Eur J Haematol. 2018;100:325–34. [[PubMed]
14. Barrientos JC, O'Brien S, Brown JR, Kay NE, Reddy NM, Coutre S, et al. Improvement in Parameters of Hematologic and Immunologic Function and Patient Well‐being in the Phase III RESONATE Study of Ibrutinib Versus Ofatumumab in Patients With Previously Treated Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia/Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma. Clin Lymphoma Myeloma Leuk. 2018;18:803–13.e7.
15. Sun C, Tian X, Lee YS, Gunti S, Lipsky A, Herman SE, et al. Partial reconstitution of humoral immunity and fewer infections in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia treated with ibrutinib. Blood. 2015;126:2213–9.