Humoral and Cellular Responses to BNT162b2 as a Booster Following Two Doses of ChAdOx1 nCov-19 Determined Using Three SARS-CoV-2 Antibody Assays and an Interferon-Gamma Release Assay: A Prospective Longitudinal Study in Healthcare Workers

Data on humoral and cellular responses to BNT162b2 as a booster dose, following two doses of ChAdOx1 nCov-19 vaccine, have seldom been reported. The aim of this study was to assess the positivity rates of three representative antibody assays targeting total, IgG, and neutralizing antibodies, and an interferon-γ release assay (IGRA), and to determine the longitudinal changes in quantitative antibody titers after each vaccination. A total of 1027 samples were collected from healthcare workers. The number of participants after the booster dose was 153, and they all completed a questionnaire on adverse reactions. All antibody assays showed 100.0% positivity at 1 month after booster vaccination. The median antibody titers of the assays were significantly increased compared with those after the second dose (22.1-fold increase for Roche total antibody, 14.0-fold increase for Abbott IgG, and 1.1-fold increase (97.5% inhibition) for GenScript neutralizing antibody). Cellular responses determined using the IGRA were positive in 92.8% of the participants. Most participants (72.5%) reported mild adverse reactions. Correlations between the three antibody assays and IGRA were weak or negligible, indicating a difference between humoral and cellular responses. Overall, our study provides information about booster vaccine strategies and laboratory settings, which could subsequently contribute to the control of the spread of coronavirus disease 2019.

[1]  Su‐Kyung Lee,et al.  Performance Comparison of Five SARS-CoV-2 Antibody Assays for Seroprevalence Studies , 2022, Annals of Laboratory Medicine.

[2]  L. Cosmi,et al.  Long-lasting cellular immunity to SARS-CoV-2 following infection or vaccination and implications for booster strategies , 2021, medRxiv.

[3]  V. Libri,et al.  Immunogenicity, safety, and reactogenicity of heterologous COVID-19 primary vaccination incorporating mRNA, viral-vector, and protein-adjuvant vaccines in the UK (Com-COV2): a single-blind, randomised, phase 2, non-inferiority trial , 2021, The Lancet.

[4]  Susan Hopkins,et al.  COV-BOOST: evidence to support rapid booster deployment , 2021, The Lancet.

[5]  Scott M Elliott,et al.  Safety and immunogenicity of seven COVID-19 vaccines as a third dose (booster) following two doses of ChAdOx1 nCov-19 or BNT162b2 in the UK (COV-BOOST): a blinded, multicentre, randomised, controlled, phase 2 trial , 2021, The Lancet.

[6]  Jongmin Lee,et al.  Comparison of SARS-CoV-2 Antibody Responses and Seroconversion in COVID-19 Patients Using Twelve Commercial Immunoassays , 2021, Annals of laboratory medicine.

[7]  I. Diamond,et al.  Effect of Delta variant on viral burden and vaccine effectiveness against new SARS-CoV-2 infections in the UK , 2021, Nature Medicine.

[8]  N. Lee,et al.  Comparison of the Results of Five SARS-CoV-2 Antibody Assays before and after the First and Second ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 Vaccinations among Health Care Workers: a Prospective Multicenter Study , 2021, Journal of clinical microbiology.

[9]  M. Hernán,et al.  Effectiveness of a third dose of the BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine for preventing severe outcomes in Israel: an observational study , 2021, The Lancet.

[10]  S. Truelove,et al.  A systematic review of COVID-19 vaccine efficacy and effectiveness against SARS-CoV-2 infection and disease , 2021, medRxiv.

[11]  K. Peck,et al.  Effects of Short-Term Corticosteroid Use on Reactogenicity and Immunogenicity of the First Dose of ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 Vaccine , 2021, Frontiers in Immunology.

[12]  N. Andrews,et al.  Vaccine effectiveness and duration of protection of Comirnaty, Vaxzevria and Spikevax against mild and severe COVID-19 in the UK , 2021, medRxiv.

[13]  I. Pedraza,et al.  T cell immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 and variants of concern (Alpha and Delta) in infected and vaccinated individuals , 2021, Cellular & Molecular Immunology.

[14]  Michael I. Mandel,et al.  Protection of BNT162b2 Vaccine Booster against Covid-19 in Israel , 2021, The New England journal of medicine.

[15]  V. Libri,et al.  Safety and immunogenicity of heterologous versus homologous prime-boost schedules with an adenoviral vectored and mRNA COVID-19 vaccine (Com-COV): a single-blind, randomised, non-inferiority trial , 2021, The Lancet.

[16]  R. Scheuermann,et al.  Impact of SARS-CoV-2 variants on the total CD4+ and CD8+ T cell reactivity in infected or vaccinated individuals , 2021, Cell Reports Medicine.

[17]  N. Lee,et al.  Comparing Results of Five SARS-CoV-2 Antibody Assays Before and After the First Dose of ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 Vaccine among Health Care Workers , 2021, Journal of clinical microbiology.

[18]  N. Banaei,et al.  Interferon-gamma release assay testing to assess COVID-19 vaccination response in a SARS-CoV-2 seronegative patient on rituximab: a case report , 2021, International Journal of Infectious Diseases.

[19]  J. Vekemans,et al.  Correlates of protection against symptomatic and asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection , 2021, Nature Medicine.

[20]  M. Koopmans,et al.  SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern partially escape humoral but not T cell responses in COVID-19 convalescent donors and vaccine recipients , 2021, Science Immunology.

[21]  Zhipeng Yan,et al.  COVID-19 Vaccines: A Review of the Safety and Efficacy of Current Clinical Trials , 2021, Pharmaceuticals.

[22]  P. Klenerman,et al.  SARS-CoV-2 infection rates of antibody-positive compared with antibody-negative health-care workers in England: a large, multicentre, prospective cohort study (SIREN) , 2021, The Lancet.

[23]  T. Morrison,et al.  A New SARS-CoV-2 Dual-Purpose Serology Test: Highly Accurate Infection Tracing and Neutralizing Antibody Response Detection , 2021, Journal of Clinical Microbiology.

[24]  V. Kulasingam,et al.  Quantitative Measurement of Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Antibodies: Analytical and Clinical Evaluation , 2021, Journal of Clinical Microbiology.

[25]  Gavin J. D. Smith,et al.  Early induction of functional SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells associates with rapid viral clearance and mild disease in COVID-19 patients , 2021, Cell Reports.

[26]  K. Chu,et al.  Safety, tolerability, and immunogenicity of an inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine in healthy adults aged 18–59 years: a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 1/2 clinical trial , 2020, The Lancet Infectious Diseases.

[27]  Shyr-Chyr Chen,et al.  Multicenter evaluation of two chemiluminescence and three lateral flow immunoassays for the diagnosis of COVID-19 and assessment of antibody dynamic responses to SARS-CoV-2 in Taiwan , 2020, Emerging microbes & infections.

[28]  Gerhard Nahler Observational Study , 2018 .

[29]  D. C. Henckel,et al.  Case report. , 1995, Journal.