Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Aug 16:13:946770.
doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2022.946770. eCollection 2022.

High baseline expression of IL-6 and IL-10 decreased CCR7 B cells in individuals with previous SARS-CoV-2 infection during BNT162b2 vaccination

Alberto Ponciano-Gómez  1 , Martha Iris Valle-Solis  2 , Myriam Campos-Aguilar  1 , Rafael Jijón-Lorenzo  2 , Elena de la C Herrera-Cogco  2 , Roberto Ramos-Alor  2 , César Isaac Bazán-Mendez  3 , Gustavo Antonio Pérez-Gil Cervantes  2 , Ricardo Ávila-García  2 , Abdiel González Aguilar  2 , Moises Geovani Salmerón Texale  2 , Wilfrido David Tapia-Sánchez  4 , Carlos Leonardo Duarte-Martínez  4 , Sandra Olivas-Quintero  5 , Santiago Cristobal Sigrist-Flores  1 , Itzell Alejandrina Gallardo-Ortíz  6 , Rafael Villalobos-Molina  6 , Adolfo Rene Méndez-Cruz  1 , Rafael Jimenez-Flores  1 , Leopoldo Santos-Argumedo  7 , Juan Pedro Luna-Arias  8 , Hector Romero-Ramírez  7 , Victor Hugo Rosales-García  4   9 , Bartolo Avendaño-Borromeo  2
Affiliations

High baseline expression of IL-6 and IL-10 decreased CCR7 B cells in individuals with previous SARS-CoV-2 infection during BNT162b2 vaccination

Alberto Ponciano-Gómez et al. Front Immunol. .

Abstract

The current pandemic generated by SARS-CoV-2 has led to mass vaccination with different biologics that have shown wide variations among human populations according to the origin and formulation of the vaccine. Studies evaluating the response in individuals with a natural infection before vaccination have been limited to antibody titer analysis and evaluating a few humoral and cellular response markers, showing a more rapid and intense humoral response than individuals without prior infection. However, the basis of these differences has not been explored in depth. In the present work, we analyzed a group of pro and anti-inflammatory cytokines, antibody titers, and cell populations in peripheral blood of individuals with previous SARS-CoV-2 infection using BNT162b2 biologic. Our results suggest that higher antibody concentration in individuals with an earlier disease could be generated by higher production of plasma cells to the detriment of the presence of memory B cells in the bloodstream, which could be related to the high baseline expression of cytokines (IL-6 and IL-10) before vaccination.

Keywords: BNT162b2; CCR7 B cells; Interleukin 10; Interleukin 6; SARS-CoV-2.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Production of Anti-RBD and Anti-Spike antibodies during vaccination. Individuals without previous infection (blue bars, n= 45) and with previous SARS-CoV-2 infection (red bars, n = 20) showed an increase in the concentration (ng/mL) of Anti-RBD antibodies (A) throughout the three times evaluated [T1 (1.084 and 4.12 mean), T2 (105.32 and 258.11 mean) and T3 (334.91 and 559.03 mean)]. Anti-Spike antibody concentration (B) showed the same behavior [T1 (4.65 and 18.94 mean), T2 (664.71 and 1615.25 mean), and T3 (1819.72 and 2930.08 mean)]. (*p ≤ 0.05, **p ≤ 0.01, ***p ≤ 0.001, two-sided t-test). vertical lines show the standard error.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Principal component analysis during vaccination. The study was applied during the three times evaluated [T1 (A), T2 (B), and T3 (C)]. Red triangles represent pre-infected individuals (n = 20). Blue circles represent individuals without prior SARS-CoV-2 infection (n = 45). The more prominent symbols represent each population’s centroid (mean), and the concentration ellipses represent the estimates according to a Gaussian distribution at a 95% confidence level for each group.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Increased cell populations in individuals without previous SARS-CoV-2 infection. Naive individuals (n = 45) showed higher counts of CD19+ CCR7+ (81.9 cells/µl mean), CD20+ (196.87 cells/µl mean) and CD20+ CCR7+ (79.95 cells/µl mean) cells during time 2 (A) compared to previously infected individuals (n = 20) (52.85, 136.6 and 51.8 cells/µl mean respectively). During time 3 (B) naive individuals presented a higher count of CD19+ CCR7+ (98 cells/µl on average) and CD20+ (181.04 cells/µl mean) populations compared to previously infected individuals (57.5 and 116.8 cells/µl mean, respectively) (*p ≤ 0.05, two-sided t-test).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Cytokines overexpressed at the beginning of vaccination in individuals with previous SARS-CoV-2 infection. At time 1 naive individuals presented a lower concentration of cytokines IL-10 (11.08 pg/ml mean), IL-12p70 (14.4 pg/ml mean) and IL-6 (25.94 pg/ml mean) compared to individuals with pre-vaccination SARS-CoV-2 infection (15.96, 20.50, and 38.36 cells/µl mean respectively) (*p ≤ 0.05, **p ≤ 0.01, two-sided t-test).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Osuchowski MF, Aletti F, Cavaillon JM, Flohé SB, Giamarellos-Bourboulis EJ, Huber-Lang M, et al. SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19: Evolving reality, global response, knowledge gaps, and opportunities. Shock (Augusta Ga) (2020) 54:1–22. doi: 10.1097/SHK.0000000000001565 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Chakravarti A, Upadhyay S, Bharara T, Broor S. Current understanding, knowledge gaps and a perspective on the future of COVID-19 infections: A systematic review. Indian J Med Microbiol (2020) 38:1–8. doi: 10.4103/ijmm.IJMM_20_138 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Sokolowska M, Lukasik ZM, Agache I, Akdis CA, Akdis D, Akdis M, et al. Immunology of COVID-19: Mechanisms, clinical outcome, diagnostics, and perspectives–a report of the european academy of allergy and clinical immunology (EAACI). Allergy Eur J Allergy Clin Immunol (2020) 75(10):2445–76. doi: 10.1111/all.14462 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Röltgen K, Boyd SD. Antibody and b cell responses to SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccination. Cell Host Microbe (2021) 29:1063–75. doi: 10.1016/j.chom.2021.06.009 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Wei J, Stoesser N, Matthews PC, Ayoubkhani D, Studley R, Bell I, et al. Antibody responses to SARS-CoV-2 vaccines in 45,965 adults from the general population of the united kingdom. Nat Microbiol (2021) 6(9):1140–9. doi: 10.1038/s41564-021-00947-3 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types