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Observational Study
. 2021 Dec 8;29(12):1738-1743.e4.
doi: 10.1016/j.chom.2021.11.004. Epub 2021 Nov 12.

Direct comparison of antibody responses to four SARS-CoV-2 vaccines in Mongolia

Naranjargal J Dashdorj  1 , Oliver F Wirz  2 , Katharina Röltgen  2 , Emily Haraguchi  2 , Anthony S Buzzanco 3rd  3 , Mamdouh Sibai  2 , Hannah Wang  2 , Jacob A Miller  2 , Daniel Solis  2 , Malaya K Sahoo  2 , Prabhu S Arunachalam  4 , Alexandra S Lee  5 , Mihir M Shah  5 , James Liu  6 , Sumiya Byambabaatar  7 , Purevjargal Bat-Ulzii  7 , Anir Enkhbat  7 , Enkhtuul Batbold  1 , Delgersaikhan Zulkhuu  7 , Byambasuren Ochirsum  7 , Tungalag Khurelsukh  8 , Ganbold Dalantai  8 , Natsagdorj Burged  8 , Uurtsaikh Baatarsuren  9 , Nomin Ariungerel  9 , Odgerel Oidovsambuu  1 , Andreas S Bungert  9 , Zulkhuu Genden  1 , Dahgwahdorj Yagaanbuyant  1 , Altankhuu Mordorj  1 , Bali Pulendran  10 , Sharon Chinthrajah  11 , Kari C Nadeau  11 , Theodore Jardetzky  3 , James L Wilbur  12 , Jacob N Wohlstadter  12 , George B Sigal  12 , Benjamin A Pinsky  2 , Scott D Boyd  13 , Naranbaatar D Dashdorj  9
Affiliations
Observational Study

Direct comparison of antibody responses to four SARS-CoV-2 vaccines in Mongolia

Naranjargal J Dashdorj et al. Cell Host Microbe. .

Abstract

Different SARS-CoV-2 vaccines are approved in various countries, but few direct comparisons of the antibody responses they stimulate have been reported. We collected plasma specimens in July 2021 from 196 Mongolian participants fully vaccinated with one of four COVID-19 vaccines: Pfizer/BioNTech, AstraZeneca, Sputnik V, and Sinopharm. Functional antibody testing with a panel of nine SARS-CoV-2 viral variant receptor binding domain (RBD) proteins revealed marked differences in vaccine responses, with low antibody levels and RBD-ACE2 blocking activity stimulated by the Sinopharm and Sputnik V vaccines in comparison to the AstraZeneca or Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines. The Alpha variant caused 97% of infections in Mongolia in June and early July 2021. Individuals who recover from SARS-CoV-2 infection after vaccination achieve high antibody titers in most cases. These data suggest that public health interventions such as vaccine boosting, potentially with more potent vaccine types, may be needed to control COVID-19 in Mongolia and worldwide.

Keywords: COVID-19; Mongolia; Pfizer/BioNTech; SARS-CoV-2; Sinopharm; Sputnik V; serology; vaccine; viral variants.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of interests S.D.B. has consulted for Regeneron, Sanofi, and Novartis on topics unrelated to this study and owns stock in AbCellera Biologics; B.P. and P.S.A. are inventors on a provisional patent application (no. 63/026,577) submitted by the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University, Stanford, CA, that covers the use of “Therapeutic Methods for Treating COVID-19 Infections”; B.P. serves on the External Immunology Network of GSK and on the Scientific Advisory Board of Medicago and Boehringer Ingelheim; and K.C.N. reports grants from National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), Food Allergy Research & Education (FARE), End Allergies Together (EAT), National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), and National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS). K.C.N. is Director of FARE and World Allergy Organization (WAO) Center of Excellence at Stanford, Advisor at Cour Pharmaceuticals, Cofounder of Before Brands, Alladapt, Latitude, and IgGenix, National Scientific Committee member for the Immune Tolerance Network (ITN) of NIAID, recipient of a Research Sponsorship from Nestle, Consultant and Advisory Board Member at Before Brands, Alladapt, IgGenix, NHLBI, and ProBio, and Data and Safety Monitoring Board member at NHLBI; R.S. Chinthrajah receives grant support from CoFAR National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Aimmune, DBV Technologies, Astellas, AnaptysBio, Novartis, and Regeneron and is an advisory board member for Alladapt Immunotherapeutics Inc., Novartis, and Genentech. J.L.W., J.N.W., and G.B.S. are employees of Meso Scale Diagnostics (MSD). The rest of the authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest relevant to this manuscript.

Figures

None
Graphical abstract
Figure 1
Figure 1
Vaccine-induced antibody blocking of RBD-ACE2 binding for different viral variants (A) Percentage blocking of ACE2 binding to RBD of specified viral variants by plasma antibodies of recipients of Pfizer/BioNTech, AstraZeneca, Sputnik V, and Sinopharm vaccines is shown. Significance of differences between pairwise combination of vaccine groups was calculated by Wilcoxon test with Bonferroni correction to adjust for multiple hypothesis correction (∗, ∗∗, and ∗∗∗ indicate p < 0.05, p < 0.01, and p < 0.001 respectively). (B) Blocking antibody responses stratified by participant age (< 60 years, or ≥ 60 years) and sex. Significance between two groups (age groups and male versus female) was calculated by Wilcoxon test (∗ and ∗∗ indicate p < 0.05 and p < 0.01 respectively). (C) RBD-ACE2 blocking antibody responses for 99 participants with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection post-vaccination with the indicated vaccines. Data points for samples from the same individual are connected with a line.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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