Frontiers in Immunology (Jan 2022)

Kinetics of the Antibody Response to Boostering With Three Different Vaccines Against SARS-CoV-2

  • Robert Markewitz,
  • David Juhl,
  • Daniela Pauli,
  • Siegfried Görg,
  • Ralf Junker,
  • Jan Rupp,
  • Sarah Engel,
  • Katja Steinhagen,
  • Victor Herbst,
  • Dorinja Zapf,
  • Christina Krüger,
  • Christian Brockmann,
  • Frank Leypoldt,
  • Justina Dargvainiene,
  • Benjamin Schomburg,
  • Shahpour Sharifzadeh,
  • Lukas Salek Nejad,
  • Klaus-Peter Wandinger,
  • Malte Ziemann

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2022.811020
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 13

Abstract

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BackgroundHeterologous vaccinations against SARS-CoV-2 with ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 and a second dose of an mRNA-based vaccine have been shown to be more immunogenic than homologous ChAdOx1 nCoV-19. In the current study, we examined the kinetics of the antibody response to the second dose of three different vaccination regimens (homologous ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vs. ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 + BNT162b2 or mRNA-1273) against SARS-CoV-2 in a longitudinal manner; whether there are differences in latency or amplitude of the early response and which markers are most suitable to detect these responses.MethodsWe performed assays for anti-S1 IgG and IgA, anti-NCP IgG and a surrogate neutralization assay on serum samples collected from 57 participants on the day of the second vaccination as well as the following seven days.ResultsAll examined vaccination regimens induced detectable antibody responses within the examined time frame. Both heterologous regimens induced responses earlier and with a higher amplitude than homologous ChAdOx1 nCoV-19. Between the heterologous regimens, amplitudes were somewhat higher for ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 + mRNA-1273. There was no difference in latency between the IgG and IgA responses. Increases in the surrogate neutralization assay were the first changes to be detectable for all regimens and the only significant change seen for homologous ChAdOx1 nCoV-19.DiscussionBoth examined heterologous vaccination regimens are superior in immunogenicity, including the latency of the response, to homologous ChAdOx1 nCoV-19. While the IgA response has a shorter latency than the IgG response after the first dose, no such difference was found after the second dose, implying that both responses are driven by separate plasma cell populations. Early and steep increases in surrogate neutralization levels suggest that this might be a more sensitive marker for antibody responses after vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 than absolute levels of anti-S1 IgG.

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