Journal Article

Diminishing Immune Responses against Variants of Concern in Dialysis Patients 4 Months after SARS-CoV-2 mRNA Vaccination

Ramos, Gema Morillas, Kaiser, Philipp D., Junker, Daniel, Cossmann, Anne, Stankov, Metodi V., Griesbaum, Johanna, Wrenger, Eike, Strengert, Monika, Beigel, Andrea, Dopfer-Jablonka, Alexandra, Rothbauer, Ulrich, Krause, Gérard, Dulovic, Alex, Lürken, Karsten, Schneiderhan-Marra, Nicole, Behrens, Georg M.N., Lonnemann, Gerhard, Becker, Matthias, Traenkle, Bjoern

2022

Overview

Patients undergoing chronic hemodialysis were among the first to receive severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) vaccinations because of their increased risk for severe coronavirus disease and high case-fatality rates. By using a previously reported cohort from Germany of at-risk hemodialysis patients and healthy donors, where antibody responses were examined 3 weeks after the second vaccination, we assessed systemic cellular and humoral immune responses in serum and saliva 4 months after vaccination with the Pfizer-BioNTech BNT162b2 vaccine using an interferon-γ release assay and multiplex-based IgG measurements. We further compared neutralization capacity of vaccination-induced IgG against 4 SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta) by angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 receptor-binding domain competition assay. Sixteen weeks after second vaccination, compared with 3 weeks after, cellular and humoral responses against the original SARS-CoV-2 isolate and variants of concern were substantially reduced. Some dialysis patients even had no detectable B- or T-cell responses.

• Publisher: U.S. National Center for Infectious Diseases,Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• Subject: Antibodies / Antibodies, Viral / Antigens / BNT162 Vaccine / coronavirus disease / Coronaviruses / COVID-19 / COVID-19 - immunology / COVID-19 - prevention & control / COVID-19 - virology / COVID-19 Vaccines / Dialysis / Diminishing Immune Responses against Variants of Concern in Dialysis Patients 4 Months after SARS-CoV-2 mRNA Vaccination / Drug therapy / Enzymes / Health aspects / Hemodialysis / Hemodialysis patients / Humans / Immune response / Immunity, Humoral / Immunization / Immunoassay / Infections / Medical personnel / Mortality / Neutralization / Renal Dialysis / respiratory infections / RNA, Messenger / SARS-CoV-2 / SARS-CoV-2 - immunology / Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 / Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus - genetics / Vaccination / viruses