The impact of ABO blood types on humoral immunity responses and antibody persistency after different COVID‐19 vaccine regimens

Abstract

This study evaluated the possible effects of blood types on coronavirus disease (COVID‐19) vaccine immunogenicity and antibody (Ab) persistency. Five different vaccinated groups against COVID‐19 were investigated at Pasteur Institute of Iran from April 2021 to December 2022. Anti‐Spike IgG and neutralizing Ab rise were tracked on Day 21 as well as the humoral immune persistency assessment 180 after booster shots. Late adverse events up to 6 months after the booster dose were collected. The results showed that blood type A, led to a significantly higher anti‐Spike Ab rise in AstraZeneca primed recipients in comparison with Sinopharm primed ones in heterologous regimens (p: 0.019). Furthermore, blood type O was a great co‐effector in homologous AstraZeneca recipients regarding neutralizing Ab rise (0.013). In addition, blood type O led to a better anti‐Spike Ab persistency in the Sinopharm homologous group whereas type A had the best effect on neutralizing Ab durability in the same vaccine group. What is more, Rh‐positive individuals in AstraZeneca + PastoCovac Plus group had a higher rate of anti‐Spike Ab rise (p = 0.001). Neutralizing Ab rise was also induced in AstraZeneca homologous and heterologous regimens of Rh‐positive individuals significantly higher than Sinopharm primed cases. The present study showed the potential impact of blood types A/O and Rh‐positive on a better humoral immune responses and Ab persistency. It is proposed that blood type A and Rh‐positive could increase the Ab rise in AstraZeneca vaccinated individuals. Moreover, blood type O might be a better co‐effector of anti‐Spike Ab persistency in Sinopharm recipients.