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Volume 28, Number 4—April 2022
Research

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

Alex Dulovic1, Monika Strengert1, Gema Morillas Ramos1, Matthias Becker, Johanna Griesbaum, Daniel Junker, Karsten Lürken, Andrea Beigel, Eike Wrenger, Gerhard Lonnemann, Anne Cossmann, Metodi V. Stankov, Alexandra Dopfer-Jablonka, Philipp D. Kaiser, Bjoern Traenkle, Ulrich Rothbauer, Gérard Krause2Comments to Author , Nicole Schneiderhan-Marra2Comments to Author , and Georg M.N. Behrens2Comments to Author 
Author affiliations: University of Tübingen Natural and Medical Sciences Institute, Reutlingen, Germany (A. Dulovic, M. Becker, J. Griesbaum, D. Junker, P.D. Kaiser, B. Traenkle, U. Rothbauer, N. Schneiderhan-Marra); Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, Braunschweig, Germany (M. Strengert, G. Krause); TWINCORE GmbH Centre for Experimental and Clinical Infection Research, Hannover, Germany (M. Strengert, G. Krause); Hannover Medical School, Hannover (G. Morillas Ramos, A. Cossmann, M.V. Stankov, A. Dopfer-Jablonka, G.M.N. Behrens); Dialysis Centre Eickenhof, Langenhagen, Germany (K. Lürken, A. Beigel, E. Wrenger, G. Lonnemann); German Centre for Infection Research, Hannover–Braunschweig, Germany (A. Dopfer-Jablonka, G. Krause, G.M.N. Behrens); University of Tübingen Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, Tübingen (U. Rothbauer); Centre for Individualized Infection Medicine, Hannover (G.M.N. Behrens)

Main Article

Figure 1

Significant decrease in humoral and cellular responses induced by Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine BNT162b2 (https://www.pfizer.com) against SARS-CoV-2 from 3 weeks to 16 weeks after second vaccination, observed in a study of immune response against variants of concern in dialysis patients 4 months after SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccination. A) IgG response in plasma; B) IgG response in saliva; C) neutralizing capacity toward SARS-CoV-2 wild type B.1; D) T-cell response measured by IFN-γ release assay. Blue circles indicate dialysis patients (n = 76) and red circles controls (n = 23). Samples were taken 3 weeks (T1) and 16 weeks (T2) after vaccination. Saliva (panel B) has reduced sample numbers in both groups because of issues in sample collection (T1 control, n = 22; T1 dialysis, n = 69; T2 control, n = 23; T2 dialysis. n = 71). T1 timepoint data has been published previously (13) and is reproduced here for clarity. Horizontal lines within boxes indicate medians; box tops and bottoms indicate the 25th and 75th percentiles; whiskers show the largest and smallest nonoutlier values. Outliers were determined by 1.5 times interquartile range. Statistical significance was calculated by Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed rank test when comparing T1 and T, and 2-sided Mann–Whitney–U test when comparing control and dialysis groups. ACE2, angiotensin-converting enzyme 2; IFN-γ, interferon γ; MFI; median fluorescence intensity; NS, not significant; RBD, receptor-binding domain; SARS-CoV-2, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; T1, timepoint 1; T2, timepoint 2.

Figure 1. Significant decrease in humoral and cellular responses induced by Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine BNT162b2 (https://www.pfizer.com) against SARS-CoV-2 from 3 weeks to 16 weeks after second vaccination, observed in a study of immune response against variants of concern in dialysis patients 4 months after SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccination. A) IgG response in plasma; B) IgG response in saliva; C) neutralizing capacity toward SARS-CoV-2 wild type B.1; D) T-cell response measured by IFN-γ release assay. Blue circles indicate dialysis patients (n = 76) and red circles controls (n = 23). Samples were taken 3 weeks (T1) and 16 weeks (T2) after vaccination. Saliva (panel B) has reduced sample numbers in both groups because of issues in sample collection (T1 control, n = 22; T1 dialysis, n = 69; T2 control, n = 23; T2 dialysis. n = 71). T1 timepoint data has been published previously (13) and is reproduced here for clarity. Horizontal lines within boxes indicate medians; box tops and bottoms indicate the 25th and 75th percentiles; whiskers show the largest and smallest nonoutlier values. Outliers were determined by 1.5 times interquartile range. Statistical significance was calculated by Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed rank test when comparing T1 and T, and 2-sided Mann–Whitney–U test when comparing control and dialysis groups. ACE2, angiotensin-converting enzyme 2; IFN-γ, interferon γ; MFI; median fluorescence intensity; NS, not significant; RBD, receptor-binding domain; SARS-CoV-2, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; T1, timepoint 1; T2, timepoint 2.

Main Article

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Main Article

1These authors contributed equally to this article.

2These authors contributed equally to this article.

Page created: December 28, 2021
Page updated: March 19, 2022
Page reviewed: March 19, 2022
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