A case report of prolonged viral shedding of SARS-CoV-2 in a patient who receive ibrutinib for CLL therapy

Patients on B cell immunosuppressive treatments have been shown to have persistent infection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). In this report, a woman treated with ibrutinib for chronic lymphocytic leukemia experienced more than 40 days of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection. Unexpectedly, her peripheral blood experiments showed a normal SARS-CoV-2-specific antibody level and a relatively elevated percentage of CD19 + B cells, while an obvious decrease in the percentages of NK cells, CD4 + T cells and CD8 + T cells. Further SARS-CoV-2-specific T cell analysis in this patient indicated a significant decrease in the percentage of SARS-CoV-2-specific IFN-γ, TNF-α or IL-2 producing CD4 + T or CD8 + T cells. Most notably, ten days after the cease of ibrutinib, the PCR for SARS-CoV-2 turned negative and the reduced proportions of peripheral CD4 + T cells and CD8 + T cells recovered. Our research predicted that the depleted B-cell function therapies may play considerable role in the development of long COVID-19 and the abnormal T-cell subset distribution might be the underlying mechanism.