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. 2023 Sep:132:107347.
doi: 10.1016/j.leukres.2023.107347. Epub 2023 Jun 22.

mRNA-1273 SARS-CoV-2 vaccine in recently transplanted allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplant recipients: Dynamics of cellular and humoral immune responses and booster effect

Nil Albiol  1 , Elionor Lynton-Pons  2 , Olga Aso  3 , Esther Moga  4 , Silvia Vidal  2 , Lucía Gómez-Pérez  5 , Jose Alejandre Santiago  6 , Mercè Triquell  3 , Nerea Roch  7 , Elisabeth Lázaro  3 , Iria González  8 , Joaquín López-Contreras  9 , Albert Esquirol  10 , Jorge Sierra  10 , Rodrigo Martino  10 , Irene García-Cadenas  11
Affiliations

mRNA-1273 SARS-CoV-2 vaccine in recently transplanted allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplant recipients: Dynamics of cellular and humoral immune responses and booster effect

Nil Albiol et al. Leuk Res. 2023 Sep.

Abstract

Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HCT) recipients are at high risk of severe COVID-19 despite vaccination. Little is known about cellular response to SARS-CoV-2 vaccine in this population, especially in recently transplanted patients (RTP). In this single-center study we examined cellular and humoral response to the mRNA-1273 (Spikevax®) vaccine in recently transplanted patients (RTP, n = 49), and compared them to long-term transplanted patients (LTTP, n = 19) and healthy controls (n = 20) at three different timepoints: one and three months after the second dose (T1 and T2, respectively, 28 days apart), and one month after the third dose (T3). Controls did not receive a third dose. RTPs showed lower IgG anti-S1 titers than healthy controls at both T1 (mean 0.50 vs 0.94 arbitrary units -AU-, p < 0.0001) and T2 (0.37 vs 0.79 AU, p < 0.0001). They also presented lower titers than LTTPs at T1 (0.50 vs 0.66, p = 0.01), but no differences at T2 (0.37 vs 0.40 AU, p = 0.55). The rate of positive T-cell responses was lower in RTPs than in controls at both T1 and T2 (61.2 % vs 95 %, p = 0.007; 59.2 % vs 100 %, p = 0.001, respectively), but without statistically significant differences between transplanted groups. At T3 no differences were seen between RTPs and LTTPs as well, neither in IgG antibodies (p = 0.82) nor in cellular responses (p = 0.15), although a third dose increased the rate of positive cellular and humoral responses in approximately 50 % of recently transplanted patients. However, active immunosuppressive treatment severely diminished their chances to produce an adequate response.

Keywords: Allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplant recipients; COVID-19; Cellular response; MRNA-1273; Recently transplanted; SARS-CoV-2.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

ga1
Graphical abstract
Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Unpaired comparisons between RTP, LTTP, and controls for each time of IgG and IgA-type anti-S1 antibodies determination. Individual values with plots and mean plus SD (error bars). Limit for positivity is marked with a dashed line. AU, arbitrary units; T1, 1 month after the second dose; T2, 3 months after the second dose; T3, 1 month after the third dose; RTP, recently transplanted patients; LTTP, long-term transplanted patients; *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001; ns, non-significant.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Paired comparisons of IgG and IgA-type anti-S1 antibody titers. Represented as mean with SD as error bar plus individual plots. Limit for positivity is marked with a dashed line. AU, arbitrary units; T1, 1 month after the second dose; T2, 3 months after the second dose; T3, 1 month after the third dose; RTP, recently transplanted patients; LTTP, long-term transplanted patients; *p < 0.05; * *p < 0.01; * **p < 0.001; ns, non-significant.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Cellular response proportions between RTP, LTTP, and controls for each time point. Represented as parts of a whole. RTP, recently transplanted patients; LTTP, long-term transplanted patients; T1, 1 month after the second dose; T2, 3 months after the second dose; T3, 1 month after the third dose; **p < 0.01; ns, non-significant.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Impact of IST on both humoral and cellular responses for RTP at each determination. AU, arbitrary units; IST, immunosuppression treatment; T1, 1 month after the second dose; T2, 3 months after the second dose; T3, 1 month after the third dose; *p < 0.05; ns, non-significant.
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