Antibody Response to SARS-CoV-2 Vaccination in Patients Following Allogeneic Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 have been rapidly approved. While pivotal studies were conducted in healthy volunteers, little information is available on safety and efficacy of mRNA vaccines in immunocompromised patients, including recipients of allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantations (allo-HCT).

Objectives

Here, we used a novel assay to analyze patient- and transplant-related factors and their influence on immune responses over an extended period of time (up to 6 months) to the SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in a large and homogenous group of allo-HCT recipients at a single center in Switzerland.

Study design

We examined longitudinal antibody responses to SARS-CoV-2 vaccination with BNT162b2 (BioNTech/Pfizer) or mRNA-1273 (Moderna) in 110 allo-HCT recipients and 86 healthy controls. Seroprofiling recording IgG, IgA, and IgM reactivities against SARS-CoV-2 antigens (receptor-binding domain (RBD), spike glycoprotein subunits S1 and S2, and nucleocapsid protein (N)) was performed prior to vaccination, prior to the 2^nd dose, and 1, 3, and 6 months (m) after the 2^nd dose. Patients were stratified to three groups (A) 3-6m post HCT; (B) 6-12m post HCT; and (C) >12m post HCT.

Results

Individuals early post allo-HCT (3-6 and 6-12m post HCT) developed significantly lower antibody titers after vaccination compared to patients >12m post allo-HCT and healthy controls (p<0.001). Within the cohort of HCT recipients, patients >65 years (p=0.030), those under immunosuppression for prevention or treatment of graft-vs-host disease (GVHD) (p=0.033), and/or with relapsed disease (p=0.014) displayed poor humoral immune response to the vaccine. In contrast, the intensity of the conditioning regimen, underlying disease (myeloid/lymphoid/other), and presence of chronic GVHD had no impact on antibody levels. Antibody titers achieved the highest levels 1m after the 2^nd dose of the vaccine but substantially waned in all transplanted groups and healthy controls over time.

Conclusions

This analysis of long-term vaccine antibody response is of critical importance to allo-HCT recipients and transplant physicians to guide treatment decisions regarding re-vaccination and social behavior during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.

SUBMITTER: Huang A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8802693 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature