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Comment
. 2021 Jul 15;131(14):e151178.
doi: 10.1172/JCI151178.

Interpreting and addressing suboptimal immune responses after COVID-19 vaccination in solid-organ transplant recipients

Peter G Stock  1 , Timothy J Henrich  2 , Dorry L Segev  1 , William A Werbel  3
Affiliations
Comment

Interpreting and addressing suboptimal immune responses after COVID-19 vaccination in solid-organ transplant recipients

Peter G Stock et al. J Clin Invest. .

Abstract

Transplant recipients were excluded from the initial clinical trials determining safety and efficacy of the landmark COVID-19 vaccines. Further, there is increasing evidence that immunosuppressed transplant recipients have a blunted antibody response to COVID-19 vaccination. In a concerning report by Sattler et al. in this issue of the JCI, kidney transplant recipients not only lacked a humoral response following two doses of Pfizer BNT162b2, but also displayed substantial impairment of the cellular response to SARS-CoV-2 antigens. This Commentary addresses potential strategies for transplant providers to evaluate and augment vaccine immunogenicity given the likelihood that COVID-19 will remain a world-wide threat to the health of transplant recipients.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest: TJH receives grant support from Gilead Biosciences, Bristol Meyer Squibb, and Merck & Co. DLS has served as a consultant to and received honoraria for speaking from Sanofi, Novartis, CSL Behring, Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Veloxis, Mallinckrodt, and Thermo Fisher Scientific.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Potential strategies for improving vaccine immunogenicity for transplant recipients.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment on

References

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