Characterizing Postoperative T and B Cell Dysfunction in Cancer Surgery Patients, Using COVID-19 as a Model Antigen

The Auer Lab research program studies how surgery affects the immune system and how this can lead to suppression in cancer patients which can lead to cancer reoccurrence. This has been well characterized in literature, with a clear demonstration that both surgery induced suppression of T cell and Natural Killer (NK) cell result in cancer recurrence.. The present study is the first in humans, to our knowledge, to demonstrate antigen specific dysfunction in T cells and B cells following cancer surgery. The study capitalized on the widespread vaccination of cancer patients against COVID before surgery, which allowed us to measure the response to the antigen S protein of SARS-CoV2. While the study is translational in methodology, we believe it will be of significant interest to all surgeons because it clearly establishes that surgery profoundly suppresses antigen-specific T and B cell responses, which have implications for postoperative infectious complications and cancer recurrence for those patients undergoing tumor resection