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. 2022 Sep 2;12(1):14932.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-19095-7.

Elevated serum IgA following vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 in a cohort of high-risk first responders

Brian T Montague  1 , Matthew F Wipperman  2 , Erica Chio  2 , Rowena Crow  3 , Andrea T Hooper  2 , Meagan P O'Brien  2 , Eric A F Simões  4
Affiliations

Elevated serum IgA following vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 in a cohort of high-risk first responders

Brian T Montague et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

IgA plays an important early neutralizing role after SARS-CoV-2 infection. Systemically administered vaccines typically produce an IgM/IgG predominant response. We evaluated the serum anti-spike (anti-S) IgG, anti-nucleocapsid (anti-N) IgG and anti-S IgA response following vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 in a cohort of first-responders. Among the 378 completely vaccinated participants, 98% were positive for anti-S IgG and 96% were positive for anti-S IgA. Nine percent were positive for anti-N IgG suggesting prior exposure to SARS-CoV-2. No statistically significant difference was seen in IgA response based on prior evidence infection (p = 0.18). Ninety-eight of those receiving the Moderna vaccine (98%) were positive for anti-S IgA as compared to 91% of those who received the Pfizer vaccine (p = 0.0009). The high proportion of participants observed to have a positive anti-S IgA response after vaccination suggests that the vaccines elicit a systemic response characterized by elevated levels of both IgG and IgA.

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Conflict of interest statement

This study received funding from Regeneron Pharmaceuticals as an investigator-initiated study, with funding from Regeneron Pharmaceuticals to Eric Simoes PI and Brian Montague Co-Investigator Grant No. 0000-COV-CES-2053. Final decisions regarding study design, implementation, data analysis and manuscript preparation were made by the principal investigator and co-investigator. Coauthors affiliated with Regeneron Pharmaceuticals provided collaborative assistance with coordination of laboratory testing, data review and analysis, and review of the final manuscript. M.F.W., A.T.H., S.C.H., F.E., L.H., S.L., J.D.H. and M.P.O. are current employees and stockholders of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals. A.T.H. is a prior employee and stockholder for Pfizer, Inc. All authors declare no other competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Change in anti-spike IgA ratio, anti-spike IgG ratio and anti-N IgG index relative to time of COVID vaccination comparing those with evidence of prior SARS-CoV-2 infection to those with no evidence of prior infection. Data visualization was performed in R with the ggplot2 package.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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