{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,3]],"date-time":"2026-02-03T15:09:31Z","timestamp":1770131371265,"version":"3.49.0"},"reference-count":19,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,2]],"date-time":"2026-02-02T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1769990400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Virus Alliance NRW","award":["76.0604-20\/2024-6626"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["76.0604-20\/2024-6626"]}]},{"name":"Open Access Publication Fund of the University of Duisburg-Essen"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Cancers"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background: Patients with primary brain tumors face profound disease- and treatment-related immunosuppression, placing them at high risk for severe infections. Their capacity to mount protective immune responses to vaccination, particularly to repeated antigen exposures such as COVID-19 boosters, remains critically under-defined, leading to uncertainty in clinical practice. Methods: In this prospective cohort study, we analyzed humoral responses to seasonal COVID-19 (mRNA-based) and influenza vaccination in 17 patients with primary brain tumors (recruited from an initial cohort of 37) who received a booster shot, and 19 healthy controls. Serum samples were collected before (T1) and 30 \u00b1 2 days after (T2) vaccination to quantify SARS-CoV-2 anti-Spike (S) IgG and anti-Influenza IgG titers. Results: Despite ongoing chemotherapy in 47% of patients, baseline anti-S antibody titers were comparable between groups. Following the booster, median anti-S titers increased significantly and to a similar magnitude in both patients (from 5030 to 18,500 BAU\/mL; IQR: 13,885\u201324,420) and controls (from 4429 to 20,200 BAU\/mL; IQR: 11,075\u201326,680; p = 0.6137, Mann\u2013Whitney U test). Only two heavily pre-treated patients showed no booster response. All participants showed sero-positivity to Anti-Influenza IgG at baseline. For the primary brain tumor cohort, a significant increase for anti-Influenza IgG at T2 was observed (p = 0.0002). Mean antibody titers did not differ between both cohorts. Conclusions: Our findings provide evidence that patients with primary brain tumors can mount robust recall immunity to mRNA vaccines, addressing clinical uncertainty about booster efficacy in this population. These data provide a strong rationale for prioritizing booster vaccinations in this vulnerable population and argue for the inclusion of these patients in future pivotal vaccine trials.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/cancers18030494","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,2]],"date-time":"2026-02-02T15:38:12Z","timestamp":1770046692000},"page":"494","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["COVID-19 and Influenza Booster Vaccination Elicits Robust Antibody Responses in Patients with Primary Brain Tumors Comparable to Healthy Adults"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"18","author":[{"given":"Teresa","family":"Schmidt","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Clinical Neuro-Oncology, Department of Neurology and Center for Translational Neuro- and Behavioral Sciences (C-TNBS), University Hospital Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen, 45147 Essen, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3659-3541","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mirko","family":"Trilling","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute for Virology, University Hospital Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen, 45147 Essen, Germany"},{"name":"Institute for the Research on HIV and AIDS-Associated Diseases, University Hospital Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen, 45147 Essen, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2733-3732","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Vu Thuy Khanh","family":"Le-Trilling","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute for Virology, University Hospital Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen, 45147 Essen, Germany"},{"name":"Institute for the Research on HIV and AIDS-Associated Diseases, University Hospital Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen, 45147 Essen, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Lucia","family":"Asar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute for Virology, University Hospital Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen, 45147 Essen, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Melanie","family":"Fiedler","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute for Virology, University Hospital Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen, 45147 Essen, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0683-0430","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Christoph","family":"Oster","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Clinical Neuro-Oncology, Department of Neurology and Center for Translational Neuro- and Behavioral Sciences (C-TNBS), University Hospital Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen, 45147 Essen, Germany"},{"name":"DKFZ-Division of Translational Neurooncology at the West German Cancer Center (WTZ), University Medicine Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen, 45147 Essen, Germany"},{"name":"German Cancer Consortium (DKTK), Partner Site Essen-D\u00fcsseldorf, Partnership Between DKFZ and University Hospital Essen, 45147 Essen, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jana","family":"Grieger","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Clinical Neuro-Oncology, Department of Neurology and Center for Translational Neuro- and Behavioral Sciences (C-TNBS), University Hospital Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen, 45147 Essen, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Giorgio","family":"Cappello","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Clinical Neuro-Oncology, Department of Neurology and Center for Translational Neuro- and Behavioral Sciences (C-TNBS), University Hospital Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen, 45147 Essen, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Kathrin","family":"Kizina","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Clinical Neuro-Oncology, Department of Neurology and Center for Translational Neuro- and Behavioral Sciences (C-TNBS), University Hospital Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen, 45147 Essen, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Leandra","family":"Grzib","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Clinical Neuro-Oncology, Department of Neurology and Center for Translational Neuro- and Behavioral Sciences (C-TNBS), University Hospital Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen, 45147 Essen, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Leon","family":"Jekel","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Clinical Neuro-Oncology, Department of Neurology and Center for Translational Neuro- and Behavioral Sciences (C-TNBS), University Hospital Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen, 45147 Essen, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Bj\u00f6rn","family":"Scheffler","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"DKFZ-Division of Translational Neurooncology at the West German Cancer Center (WTZ), University Medicine Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen, 45147 Essen, Germany"},{"name":"German Cancer Consortium (DKTK), Partner Site Essen-D\u00fcsseldorf, Partnership Between DKFZ and University Hospital Essen, 45147 Essen, Germany"},{"name":"German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), 69120 Heidelberg, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9073-1821","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ulrich","family":"Sure","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Neurosurgery and Spine Surgery, University Hospital Essen, 45147 Essen, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3759-8301","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yahya","family":"Ahmadipour","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Neurosurgery and Spine Surgery, University Hospital Essen, 45147 Essen, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8348-4298","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Laur\u00e8l","family":"Rauschenbach","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"DKFZ-Division of Translational Neurooncology at the West German Cancer Center (WTZ), University Medicine Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen, 45147 Essen, Germany"},{"name":"German Cancer Consortium (DKTK), Partner Site Essen-D\u00fcsseldorf, Partnership Between DKFZ and University Hospital Essen, 45147 Essen, Germany"},{"name":"Department of Neurosurgery and Spine Surgery, University Hospital Essen, 45147 Essen, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1650-8875","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Christoph","family":"Kleinschnitz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Neurology and Center for Translational Neuro- and Behavioral Sciences (C-TNBS), University Hospital Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen, 45147 Essen, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Ulf","family":"Dittmer","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute for Virology, University Hospital Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen, 45147 Essen, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Martin","family":"Glas","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Neurology and Neurooncology, St. Marien Hospital, 44534 L\u00fcnen, Germany"},{"name":"Department of Neurooncology, Center for Neurology, University Hospital Bonn, University of Bonn, 53127 Bonn, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Sied","family":"Kebir","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Clinical Neuro-Oncology, Department of Neurology and Center for Translational Neuro- and Behavioral Sciences (C-TNBS), University Hospital Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen, 45147 Essen, Germany"},{"name":"DKFZ-Division of Translational Neurooncology at the West German Cancer Center (WTZ), University Medicine Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen, 45147 Essen, Germany"},{"name":"German Cancer Consortium (DKTK), Partner Site Essen-D\u00fcsseldorf, Partnership Between DKFZ and University Hospital Essen, 45147 Essen, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,2]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"403","DOI":"10.1056\/NEJMoa2035389","article-title":"Efficacy and Safety of the mRNA-1273 SARS-CoV-2 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