SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern partially escape humoral but not T cell responses in COVID-19 convalescent donors and vaccine recipients

Geers, Daryl; Shamier, Marc C.; Bogers, Susanne; Hartog, Gerco den; Gommers, Lennert; Nieuwkoop, Nella J.; Schmitz, Katharina S.; Rijsbergen, Laurine C; Osch, Jolieke A T van; Dijkhuizen, Emma; Smits, Gaby; Comvalius, Anouskha D.; Mourik, Djenolan van; Caniels, Tom G.; Gils, Marit J. van; Sanders, Rogier W.; Munnink, Bas B. Oude; Molenkamp, Richard; Jager, Herbert J de; Haagmans, Bart L.; Swart, Rik L. de; Koopmans, Marion; Binnendijk, Robert S. van; Vries, Rory D. de; GeurtsvanKessel, Corine H.

doi:10.1126/sciimmunol.abj1750

Cited by 512 publications

(471 citation statements)

References 93 publications

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“…A recent study in Washington State indicated that VOC are overrepresented among post-vaccination breakthrough infections that do not require hospitalization [ 31 ]. As shown, mutations present in VOC, such as B.1.1.7 and B.1.351, do not escape the T-cell-mediated immunity that is elicited through vaccination [ 32 ]. Therefore, it is urgently needed to not rely solely on the antibody status level, but also to assess the cellular responses in vaccinated patients with severe breakthrough infections.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Clinical Characteristics of Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients Who Received at Least One Dose of COVID-19 Vaccine

et al. 2021

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The clinical trials of the COVID-19 vaccines that are authorized in the European Union have revealed high efficacy in preventing symptomatic infections. However, during vaccination campaigns, some vaccine recipients, including those partially and fully vaccinated, will experience severe COVID-19, requiring hospitalization. This may particularly concern patients with a diminished immune response to the vaccine, as well as non-responders. This work has retrospectively analyzed the 92 cases of patients who were hospitalized between 27 December 2020 and 31 May 2021 in four Polish healthcare units due to COVID-19, and who have previously received the COVID-19 vaccine (54.3% ≤ 14 days after the first dose, 26.1% > 14 days after the first dose, 7.6% ≤ 14 days after the second dose, and 12% > 14 days after the second dose). These patients represented a minute fraction (1.2%) of all the COVID-19 patients who were hospitalized during the same period in the same healthcare institutions. No significant differences in white blood count, absolute lymphocyte count nadir, C-reactive protein, interleukin-6, procalcitonin, oxygen saturation, lung involvement, and fever frequency were found between the recipients of the first and second vaccine dose. A total of 15 deaths were noted (1.1% of all fatal COVID-19 cases in the considered period and healthcare units), including six in patients who received the second dose (five > 14 days after the second dose)—three of these subjects were using immunosuppressive medicines, and two were confirmed to be vaccine non-responders. The study reassures that severe COVID-19 and deaths are not common in vaccinated individuals, highlights that the clinical course in such patients may not reveal any distinctive features, and advocates for close monitoring of those at a higher risk of vaccine failure.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Clinical Characteristics of Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients Who Received at Least One Dose of COVID-19 Vaccine

et al. 2021

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“…The results of our study support previous findings indicating that protection against infection mediated by neutralizing antibodies may be impaired against the variants of concern, especially after a mild disease. While in the absence of neutralizing antibodies reinfection is possible, cellular immunity is not similarly affected by mutations in the RBD site (16) and is likely to provide long-term protection against severe disease.…”

Section: None Of These Individuals Had Documentation Of Pcr-confirmed Re-infection In the National Infectiousmentioning

confidence: 99%

Persistence of neutralizing antibodies a year after SARS-CoV-2 infection

Haveri

Ekström

Solastie

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Understanding for how long antibodies persist following Severe acute respiratory coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection provides important insight into estimating the duration of immunity induced by infection. We assessed the persistence of serum antibodies following wild-type SARS-CoV-2 infection six and twelve months after diagnosis in 367 individuals of whom 13% had severe disease requiring hospitalization. We determined the SARS-CoV-2 spike (S-IgG) and nucleoprotein IgG concentrations and the proportion of subjects with neutralizing antibodies (NAb). We also measured the NAb titers among a smaller subset of participants (n=78) against a wild-type virus (B.1) and three variants of concern (VOCs): Alpha (B.1.1.7), Beta (B.1.351) and Delta (B.1.617.2). We found that NAb against the wild-type virus and S-IgG persisted in 89% and 97% of subjects for at least twelve months after infection, respectively. IgG and NAb levels were higher after severe infection. NAb titers were significantly lower against variants compared to the wild-type virus.

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“…The ongoing emergence of novel SARS‐CoV‐2 variants highlights the likely benefit of generating broad cellular and humoral immunity in response to vaccination. 1 , 2 , 3 Memory T cells play a critical role in protection against all viral pathogens. 4 They act directly by killing virally infected cells and also provide help for the maturation of B cells and their subsequent production of neutralising antibodies.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rapid whole‐blood assay to detect SARS‐CoV‐2‐specific memory T‐cell immunity following a single dose of AstraZeneca ChAdOx1‐S COVID‐19 vaccine

et al. 2021

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Objectives With the ongoing emergence of SARS‐CoV‐2 variants and potential to evade vaccine‐induced neutralisation, understanding the magnitude and breadth of vaccine‐induced T‐cell immunity will be critical for the ongoing optimisation of vaccine approaches. Strategies that provide a rapid and easily translatable means of assessing virus‐specific T‐cell responses provide an opportunity to monitor the impact of vaccine rollouts in the community. In this study, we assessed whether our recently developed SARS‐CoV‐2 whole‐blood assay could be used effectively to analyse T‐cell responses following vaccination. Methods Following a median of 15 days after the first dose of the ChAdOx1‐S (AstraZeneca ® ) vaccine, peripheral blood was isolated from 58 participants. Blood was incubated overnight with an overlapping set of spike protein peptides and assessed for cytokine production using a cytometric bead array. Results The majority of vaccine recipients (51/58) generated a T helper 1 response (IFN‐γ and/or IL‐2) following a single dose of ChAdOx1‐S. The magnitude of the IFN‐γ and IL‐2 response strongly correlated in vaccine recipients. While the production of other cytokines was evident in individuals who did not generate IFN‐γ and IL‐2, they showed no correlation in magnitude, nor did we see a correlation between sex or age and the magnitude of the response. Conclusions The whole‐blood cytokine assay provides a rapid approach to assessing T‐cell immunity against SARS‐CoV‐2 in vaccine recipients. While the majority of participants generated a robust SARS‐CoV‐2‐specific T‐cell response following their first dose, some did not, demonstrating the likely importance of the booster dose in improving T‐cell immunity.

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SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern partially escape humoral but not T cell responses in COVID-19 convalescent donors and vaccine recipients

Cited by 512 publications

References 93 publications

Clinical Characteristics of Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients Who Received at Least One Dose of COVID-19 Vaccine

Clinical Characteristics of Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients Who Received at Least One Dose of COVID-19 Vaccine

Persistence of neutralizing antibodies a year after SARS-CoV-2 infection

Rapid whole‐blood assay to detect SARS‐CoV‐2‐specific memory T‐cell immunity following a single dose of AstraZeneca ChAdOx1‐S COVID‐19 vaccine

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