Frontiers in Neurology (Nov 2022)

Longitudinal SARS-CoV-2 humoral response in MS patients with and without SARS-CoV-2 infection prior to vaccination

  • Koos P. J. van Dam,
  • Laura Hogenboom,
  • Eileen W. Stalman,
  • Laura Y. L. Kummer,
  • Maurice Steenhuis,
  • Maurice Steenhuis,
  • Jim B. D. Keijser,
  • Anja ten Brinke,
  • S. Marieke van Ham,
  • S. Marieke van Ham,
  • Taco W. Kuijpers,
  • Theo Rispens,
  • Luuk Wieske,
  • Luuk Wieske,
  • Filip Eftimov,
  • Eva M. Strijbis,
  • Joep Killestein,
  • Zoé L. E. van Kempen

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fneur.2022.1032830
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 13

Abstract

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IntroductionDuring the COVID-19 pandemic, certain disease modifying therapies (DMTs) used in multiple sclerosis (MS), such as anti-CD20 therapies, have been associated with decreased humoral responses after SARS-CoV-2 vaccination. Hybrid immunity, referring to immunity after both vaccination and SARS-CoV-2 infection might increase humoral responses.MethodsThis was a substudy of two prospective cohort studies on SARS-CoV-2 antibodies after SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccination. RBD-specific IgG titers of patients with MS and healthy controls who had experienced SARS-CoV-2 infection prior to the first vaccination were compared with those patients and healthy controls without prior infection. Humoral responses were measured at various time points after SARS-CoV-2 infection in convalescent patients and all patients prior to the first vaccination, 28 days after the first vaccination, and 28 days after the second vaccination.ResultsOne hundred and two individuals [of which 34 patients with MS and DMTs (natalizumab or ocrelizumab), 30 patients without DMTs, and 38 healthy controls] were included. Fifty one of these individuals were convalescent. Median SARS-CoV-2 antibody titers were higher after the first vaccination in convalescent individuals compared with individuals without infection prior to vaccination. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) antibody titers were comparable after the second vaccination in patients with MS with and without prior infection. However, in the convalescent ocrelizumab-treated patients, SARS-CoV-2 antibody titers did not increase after vaccinations.ConclusionIn patients with MS without anti-CD20 therapies, SARS-CoV-2 infection before vaccination increases humoral responses after the first vaccination, similar to the healthy controls. In patients with MS treated with ocrelizumab (convalescent and non-convalescent), humoral responses remained low.

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