Robust immune responses are observed after one dose of BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine dose in SARS-CoV-2–experienced individuals

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Abstract

The use of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines will play the major role in helping to end the pandemic that has killed millions worldwide. COVID-19 vaccines have resulted in robust humoral responses and protective efficacy in human trials, but efficacy trials excluded individuals with a prior diagnosis of COVID-19. As a result, little is known about how immune responses induced by mRNA vaccines differ in individuals who recovered from COVID-19. Here, we evaluated longitudinal immune responses to two-dose BNT162b2 mRNA vaccination in 15 adults who had experienced COVID-19, compared to 21 adults who did not have prior COVID-19. Consistent with prior studies of mRNA vaccines, we observed robust cytotoxic CD8 + T cell responses in both cohorts after the second dose. Furthermore, SARS-CoV-2–naive individuals had progressive increases in humoral and antigen-specific antibody-secreting cell (ASC) responses after each dose of vaccine, whereas SARS-CoV-2–experienced individuals demonstrated strong humoral and antigen-specific ASC responses to the first dose but these responses were not further enhanced after the second dose of the vaccine at the time points studied. Together, these data highlight the relevance of immunological history for understanding vaccine immune responses and may have implications for personalizing mRNA vaccination regimens used to prevent COVID-19, including for the deployment of booster shots.

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  1. SciScore for 10.1101/2021.02.07.21251311: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    Institutional Review Board StatementConsent: Recruitment and enrollment: Thirty-two individuals (19 SARS-CoV-2-naïve and 13 SARS-CoV-2-experienced) provided written consent for enrollment with approval from the NYU Institutional Review Board (IRB 20-00595 and IRB 18-02037) Blood samples processing and storage: Venous blood was collected by standard phlebotomy.
    IRB: Recruitment and enrollment: Thirty-two individuals (19 SARS-CoV-2-naïve and 13 SARS-CoV-2-experienced) provided written consent for enrollment with approval from the NYU Institutional Review Board (IRB 20-00595 and IRB 18-02037) Blood samples processing and storage: Venous blood was collected by standard phlebotomy.
    Randomizationnot detected.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.
    Sex as a biological variablenot detected.
    Cell Line Authenticationnot detected.

    Table 2: Resources

    Antibodies
    SentencesResources
    Ninety-six well ELISpot filter plates (Millipore, MSHAN4B50) were coated overnight with 1 mg/mL recombinant S1, S2, or RBD (Sino Biological Inc.), or 10 mg/mL of goat anti-human IgG/A/M capture antibody (Jackson ImmunoResearch Laboratory Inc., 109-005-064).
    anti-human IgG/A/M
    suggested: None
    Biotinylated anti-human IgG, IgM, or IgA antibody (Jackson ImmunoResearch Laboratory Inc., 709-065-098, 109-065-129, 109-065-011) were diluted 1:1000 in PBS-T with 2% FCS (Ab diluent) and 100 µl was added to wells for 2 hours at RT or overnight at 4°C.
    Biotinylated anti-human IgG
    suggested: (MABTECH Cat# 3850-6-1000, RRID:AB_10667400)
    anti-human IgG
    suggested: (Jackson ImmunoResearch Labs Cat# 709-065-098, RRID:AB_2340506)
    IgA
    suggested: (Jackson ImmunoResearch Labs Cat# 109-065-011, RRID:AB_2337624)
    Twenty-four hours post-infection, cells were fixed with 10% formalin solution (4% active formaldehyde) for 1 hour, stained with an α-SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid antibody (ProSci #10-605), and a goat α-mouse IgG AF647 secondary antibody along with DAPI and visualized by microscopy with the CellInsight CX7 High-Content Screening (HCS) Platform (Thermo Fisher) and high-content software (HCS) 14.
    α-SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid antibody (ProSci #10-605),
    suggested: None
    α-mouse IgG
    suggested: None
    Experimental Models: Cell Lines
    SentencesResources
    SARS-CoV-2 microneutralization assay: Viral neutralization activity of serum was measured in an immunofluorescence-based microneutralization assay by detecting the neutralization of infectious virus in cultured Vero E6 cells (African Green Monkey Kidney; ATCC #CRL-1586).
    Vero E6
    suggested: None

    Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).


    Results from LimitationRecognizer: An explicit section about the limitations of the techniques employed in this study was not found. We encourage authors to address study limitations.

    Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.


    Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.


    Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.


    Results from rtransparent:
    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • No protocol registration statement was detected.

    About SciScore

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