• Monica Fung, Ashok Nambiar, Suchi Pandey, J Matthew Aldrich, Justin Teraoka, Christopher Freise, John Roberts, Sindhu Chandran, Steven R Hays, Emma Bainbridge, Catherine DeVoe, Annelys Roque Gardner, Deborah Yokoe, Timothy J Henrich, Jennifer M Babik, and Peter Chin-Hong.
• Division of Infectious Disease, Department of Medicine, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
• Transpl Infect Dis. 2021 Apr 1; 23 (2): e13477.

AbstractImmunosuppressed patients such as solid organ transplant and hematologic malignancy patients appear to be at increased risk for morbidity and mortality due to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by SARS coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Convalescent plasma, a method of passive immunization that has been applied to prior viral pandemics, holds promise as a potential treatment for COVID-19. Immunocompromised patients may experience more benefit from convalescent plasma given underlying deficits in B and T cell immunity as well as contraindications to antiviral and immunomodulatory therapy. We describe our institutional experience with four immunosuppressed patients (two kidney transplant recipients, one lung transplant recipient, and one chronic myelogenous leukemia patient) treated with COVID-19 convalescent plasma through the Expanded Access Program (NCT04338360). All patients clinically improved after administration (two fully recovered and two discharged to skilled nursing facilities) and none experienced a transfusion reaction. We also report the characteristics of convalescent plasma product from a local blood center including positive SARS-CoV-2 IgG and negative SARS-CoV-2 PCR in all samples tested. This preliminary evidence suggest that convalescent plasma may be safe among immunosuppressed patients with COVID-19 and emphasizes the need for further data on the efficacy of convalescent plasma as either primary or adjunctive therapy for COVID-19.© 2020 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

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