High Incidence of SARS-CoV-2 Variant of Concern Breakthrough Infections Despite Residual Humoral and Cellular Immunity Induced by BNT162b2 Vaccination in Healthcare Workers: A Long-Term Follow-Up Study in Belgium

Viruses

卷:14

Kim Callebaut¹  Nico Callewaert¹  Xavier Bossuyt²  Kersten Dieckmann³  Dorinja Zapf³  Johan Van Weyenbergh⁴  Piet Maes⁴  Bas Calcoen⁵  Simon F. De Meyer⁵  Aline Vandenbulcke⁵  Karen Vanhoorelbeke⁵  Winnie Kerstens⁶  Hendrik Jan Thibaut⁶  Thomas Vercruysse⁶  Kai Dallmeier⁷  Maya Imbrechts⁸  Nick Geukens⁸  Wim Maes⁸ 

[1] AZ Groeninge Hospital, Department of Laboratory Medicine, 8500 Kortrijk, Belgium;

[2] Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Transplantation, KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium;

[3] Institut für Experimentelle Immunologie, EUROIMMUN Medizinische Labordiagnostika AG, 23552 Lübeck, Germany;

[4] Laboratory for Clinical and Epidemiological Virology, KU Leuven Rega Institute, 3000 Leuven, Belgium;

[5] Laboratory for Thrombosis Research, KU Leuven Campus Kulak Kortrijk, 8500 Kortrijk, Belgium;

[6] Laboratory of Virology and Chemotherapy, Translational Platform Virology and Chemotherapy, Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Transplantation, KU Leuven Rega Institute, 3000 Leuven, Belgium;

[7] Laboratory of Virology, Molecular Vaccinology and Vaccine Discovery, Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Transplantation, KU Leuven Rega Institute, 3000 Leuven, Belgium;

[8] PharmAbs, the KU Leuven Antibody Center, KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium;

关键词: SARS-CoV-2;    BNT162b2 vaccine;    long-term monitoring;    healthcare workers;    breakthrough infection;    variants of concern;   

DOI  :  10.3390/v14061257

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

To mitigate the massive COVID-19 burden caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), several vaccination campaigns were initiated. We performed a single-center observational trial to monitor the mid- (3 months) and long-term (10 months) adaptive immune response and to document breakthrough infections (BTI) in healthcare workers (n = 84) upon BNT162b2 vaccination in a real-world setting. Firstly, serology was determined through immunoassays. Secondly, antibody functionality was analyzed via in vitro binding inhibition and pseudovirus neutralization and circulating receptor-binding domain (RBD)-specific B cells were assessed. Moreover, the induction of SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells was investigated by an interferon-γ release assay combined with flowcytometric profiling of activated CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ T cells. Within individuals that did not experience BTI (n = 62), vaccine-induced humoral and cellular immune responses were not correlated. Interestingly, waning over time was more pronounced within humoral compared to cellular immunity. In particular, 45 of these 62 subjects no longer displayed functional neutralization against the delta variant of concern (VoC) at long-term follow-up. Noteworthily, we reported a high incidence of symptomatic BTI cases (17.11%) caused by alpha and delta VoCs, although vaccine-induced immunity was only slightly reduced compared to subjects without BTI at mid-term follow-up.

【 授权许可】

Unknown