Abstract | Objectives: The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic poses a great threat to global health, particularly in solid organ transplant recipients (SOTRs). A 3-dose mRNA vaccination protocol has been implemented for the majority of SOTRs, yet their immune responses are less effective compared to healthy controls (HCs). Methods: We analyzed the humoral immune responses against the vaccine strain and variants of concern (VOC), including the highly mutated-omicron variant in 113 SOTRs, of whom 44 had recovered from COVID-19 (recovered-SOTRs) and 69 had not contracted the virus (COVID-naïve). In addition, 30 HCs, 8 of whom had recovered from COVID-19, were also studied. Results: Here, we report that three doses of the mRNA vaccine had only a modest effect in eliciting anti- viral antibodies against all viral strains in the fully vaccinated COVID-naive SOTRs (n = 47). Only 34.0% of this group of patients demonstrated both detectable anti-RBD IgG with neutralization activities against alpha, beta, and delta variants, and only 8.5% of them showed additional omicron neutralizing capacities. In contrast, 79.5% of the recovered-SOTRs who received two doses of vaccine demonstrated both higher anti-RBD IgG levels and neutralizing activities against all VOC, including omicron. Conclusion: These findings illustrate a significant impact of previous infection on the development of anti-SARS-CoV-2 immune responses in vaccinated SOTRs and highlight the need for alternative strategies to protect a subset of a lesser- vaccine responsive population.
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Authors | Chih-Chao Chang, George Vlad, Elena Rodica Vasilescu, Ping Li, Syed A Husain, Elaine A Silvia, David J Cohen, Lloyd E Ratner, Wei-Zen Sun, Sumit Mohan, Nicole Suciu-Foca |
Journal | Clinical & translational immunology
(Clin Transl Immunology)
Vol. 11
Issue 8
Pg. e1411
( 2022)
ISSN: 2050-0068 [Print] Australia |
PMID | 35979345
(Publication Type: Journal Article)
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Copyright | © 2022 The Authors. Clinical & Translational Immunology published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Australian and New Zealand Society for Immunology, Inc. |