Br J Haematol: Millions of people can't imagine that a Hodgkin's lymphoma patient contracted SARS-CoV-2 after the tumor subsided

Since the detection of the new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), various news and research reports have refreshed people's understanding.
recently, an article in British Journal of Haematology (BJH) brought back a surprising message about SARS-CoV-2.
sarah Challenor and David Tucker of the Department of Hematology at the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro, England, said in an article entitled "SARS-CoV-2-induced remission of Hodgkin lyoma" that a 61-year-old cancer patient had gradually subsided after recovering from COVID-19.
the patient, who is from the UK, had previously been referred to the hematology department for sexual lymph node disease and weight loss, indicating that it could develop into malignant lymphoma.
, the patient received hemodialysis due to end-stage renal failure that was secondary to IgA kidney disease.
had stopped immunosuppressive treatment for three years after failing a kidney transplant.
a small needle biopsy of the collarbone lymph nodes showed that the patient was Hodgkin's lymphoma patient infected with EBSTEIN-Barr virus, and that FDG-PET/CT showed that he was in the advanced stages of the disease.
Shortly after being diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma, the patient was hospitalized with breathing difficulties and was later diagnosed with COVID-19 and began treatment, during which time clinicians did not treat the patient with glucoticoids or immunotherapy.
11 days, the patient was discharged from the hospital and returned home to recuperate.
four months later, something magical happened.
lymph node lesions decreased significantly in patients with the disease, and temporary PET/CT scans showed widespread receding of lymph node lesions, and the EBV virus PCR decreased from 4800 copies/ml to 413 copies/ml from the beginning.
left is the original PET/CT scan results, and the right image shows the RESULTs of the PET/CT scan four months later.
In June 2020, an article also published in BJH reviewed evidence to date of complications after infection with the new coronavirus in patients with lymphoma, and suggested that blood cancer patients may suffer more severe clinical outcomes after infection with SARS-CoV-2 due to decreased immunity.
, however, cases of "self-healing" lymphoma have been reported before.
a 2012 article in Clinical Lymphoma, Myeloma and Leukemia mentioned that a patient with maxillary diffuse large B-cell lymphoma also gradually subsided after complications of pneumonia and thyroid colitis.
at the time speculated that the anti-tumor immune response may be a potential cause of spontaneous tumor relief.
Based on previous cases, in this article, the researchers speculated that an SARS-CoV-2 infection may have triggered an anti-tumor immune response in the patient's body, leading to the decline of Hodgkin's lymphoma, possibly by the cross-reaction of pathogen-specific T-cells with tumor antigens and by the activation of natural killer cells by inflammatory cytokines produced during infection.
Though it is not clear exactly what causes the tumor to subside in the lymphoma patient, the report provides a reference for further information about COVID-19 and will help future researchers develop more effective cancer immunotherapy.
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