Cellular and Humoral Responses Follow-up for 8 Months after Vaccination with mRNA-Based Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Vaccines

Abstract

Vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 has become the main method of reducing mortality and severity of COVID-19. This work aims to study the evolution of the cellular and humoral responses conferred by two mRNA vaccines after two doses against SARS-CoV-2. On days 30 and 240 after the second dose of both vaccines, the anti-S antibodies in plasma were evaluated from 82 volunteers vaccinated with BNT162b2 and 68 vaccinated with mRNA-1273. Peripheral blood was stimulated with peptides encompassing the entire SARS-CoV-2 Spike sequence. IgG Anti-S antibodies (humoral) were quantified on plasma, and inflammatory cytokines (cellular) were measured after stimulation. We observed a higher response (both humoral and cellular) with the mRNA-1273 vaccine. Stratifying by age and gender, differences between vaccines were observed, especially in women under 48 and men over 48 years old. Therefore, this work could help to set up a vaccination strategy that could be applied to confer maximum immunity.

IgG anti-RBD levels during 8-month follow-up post-vaccination with BNT162b2 and mRNA-1273 vaccines in healthcare workers: A one-center study

“…Furthermore, individuals vaccinated with BNT126b2 presented a negative correlation between IgG anti-RBD levels and age, and older individuals vaccinated with BNT162b2 had the highest wane ratios, especially men vaccinated with BNT162b2. This evidence may further support the use of the mRNA-1273 vaccine not only in at-risk populations, such as healthcare workers, but also in the elderly population, as it may achieve higher IgG anti-RBD levels than the BNT162b2 vaccine and, in line with previous publications, an enhanced anti-SARS-CoV-2 cellular response (Gil-Manso et al, 2022). These differences between vaccines may be due to the difference between the number of days separating the administration of the two doses (21 vs. 28 days for BN162b2 vs. mRNA-1273, respectively [Jackson et al, 2020;Polack et al, 2020)] or their different lipidic composition (Schoenmaker et al, 2021), which could be responsible for their different behaviour with respect to the immune memory response.…”

“…Furthermore, individuals vaccinated with BNT126b2 presented a negative correlation between IgG anti-RBD levels and age, and older individuals vaccinated with BNT162b2 had the highest wane ratios, especially men vaccinated with BNT162b2. This evidence may further support the use of the mRNA-1273 vaccine not only in at-risk populations, such as healthcare workers, but also in the elderly population, as it may achieve higher IgG anti-RBD levels than the BNT162b2 vaccine and, in line with previous publications, an enhanced anti-SARS-CoV-2 cellular response ( Gil-Manso et al., 2022 ).…”

“…In addition, we observed that age was also implicated in the humoral response; as expected, the younger individuals produced higher levels of antibodies. For gender, despite the fact that no differences were observed in the total sample, it could have implications associated with age and the type of vaccine administered, as we previously observed for the cellular response (Gil-Manso et al, 2022).…”

“…These vaccines have demonstrated efficacy in generating a humoral response, with high antibody levels being reached in the first weeks post-vaccination ( Doria-Rose et al., 2021 ; Gil-Manso et al., 2021 ; Wheeler et al., 2021 ). Although these antibodies can be detected several months post-vaccination, a wane in antibody levels after 6 months has been observed ( Naaber et al., 2021 ; Gil-Manso et al., 2022 ; Herzberg et al., 2022 ; Jalkanen et al., 2022 ). However, despite many studies concerning the humoral response, few compare the outcomes of vaccination in cohorts receiving BNT162b2 or mRNA-1273.…”

Prolonged SARS-CoV-2 T Cell Responses in a Vaccinated COVID-19-Naive Population

“…A prospective study enrolling healthcare workers agrees with our results, reporting the preservation of cellular immunity nine months after vaccination in uninfected individuals, especially those who had received an mRNA-based vaccine [ 25 ]. Similarly, mRNA vaccines conferred high cellular responses almost eight months post-vaccination, whereas antibody levels had drastically waned [ 26 ]. On the other hand, in a multicenter, longitudinal study, robust cellular responses with detectable humoral immunity were documented up to eight months after complete vaccination [ 27 ].…”