Comprehensive Humoral and Cellular Immune Responses to SARS-CoV-2 Variants in Diverse Chinese Population
Jiwei Li,
Jing Wu,
Qiuyue Long,
Yan’an Wu,
Xiaoyi Hu,
Yukun He,
Mingzheng Jiang,
Jia Li,
Lili Zhao,
Shuoqi Yang,
Xiaoyong Chen,
Minghui Wang,
Jianshi Zheng,
Fangfang Wu,
Ruiliang Wu,
Lihong Ren,
Liang Bu,
Houzhao Wang,
Ke Li,
Lijuan Fu,
Guojun Zhang,
Yali Zheng,
Zhancheng Gao
Affiliations
Jiwei Li
Department of Respiratory, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, Xiang'an Hospital of Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian, China; School of Medicine, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian, China
Jing Wu
Department of Respiratory, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, Xiang'an Hospital of Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian, China; School of Medicine, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian, China
Qiuyue Long
Department of Respiratory, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, Xiang'an Hospital of Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian, China; School of Medicine, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian, China
Yan’an Wu
Department of Clinical Laboratory, Xiang’an Hospital of Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian, China
Xiaoyi Hu
Department of Respiratory, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, Xiang'an Hospital of Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian, China; School of Medicine, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian, China
Yukun He
Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing, China
Mingzheng Jiang
Department of Respiratory, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, Xiang'an Hospital of Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian, China; School of Medicine, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian, China
Jia Li
Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing, China
Lili Zhao
Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing, China
Shuoqi Yang
School of Medicine, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian, China; Department of Thoracic Surgery, Xiang'an Hospital of Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian, China
Xiaoyong Chen
Department of Respiratory, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, Xiang'an Hospital of Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian, China
Minghui Wang
Department of Respiratory, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, Xiang'an Hospital of Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian, China
Jianshi Zheng
Department of Respiratory, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, Xiang'an Hospital of Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian, China
Fangfang Wu
Department of Respiratory, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, Xiang'an Hospital of Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian, China
Ruiliang Wu
Department of Respiratory, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, Xiang'an Hospital of Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian, China
Lihong Ren
Department of Pediatrics, Xiang'an Hospital of Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian, China
Liang Bu
Department of Thoracic Surgery, Xiang'an Hospital of Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian, China
Houzhao Wang
Department of Clinical Laboratory, Xiang’an Hospital of Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian, China
Ke Li
Department of Critical Care Medicine, Xiang'an Hospital of Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian, China
Lijuan Fu
Department of Infectious Diseases, Xiang'an Hospital of Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian, China
Guojun Zhang
Cancer Research Center and The Department of Breast-Thyroid-Surgery, Xiang’an Hospital of Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian, China
Yali Zheng
Department of Respiratory, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, Xiang'an Hospital of Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian, China
Zhancheng Gao
Department of Respiratory, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, Xiang'an Hospital of Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian, China; Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing, China
The SARS-CoV-2 variants have been emerging and have made great challenges to current vaccine and pandemic control strategies. It is urgent to understand the current immune status of various Chinese populations given that the preexisting immunity has been established by national vaccination or exposure to past variants. Using sera from 85 individuals (including 21 convalescents of natural infection, 15 cases which suffered a breakthrough infection after being fully vaccinated, and 49 healthy vaccinees), we showed significantly enhanced neutralizing activities against SRAS-CoV-2 variants in convalescent sera, especially those who had been fully vaccinated. The neutralizing antibodies against Omicron were detectable in 75% of convalescents and 44.9% of healthy vaccinees (p=0.006), with a GMT of 289.5, 180.9-463.3, and 42.6, 31.3-59, respectively. However, the neutralizing activities were weaker in young convalescents (aged<18 y), with a detectable rate of 50% and a GMT of 46.4 against Omicron. We also examined and found no pan-sarbecovirus neutralizing activities in vaccinated SARS-CoV-1 survivors. A booster dose could further increase the breadth and magnitude of neutralization against WT and variants of concern (VOCs) to different degrees. In addition, we showed that COVID-19-inactivated vaccines can elicit Omicron-specific T-cell responses. The positive rates of ELISpot reactions were 26.7% (4/15) and 43.8% (7/16) in the full vaccination group and the booster vaccination group, respectively, although without statistically significant difference. The neutralizing antibody titers declined while T-cell responses remain consistent over 6 months. These findings will inform the optimization of public health vaccination and intervention strategies to protect diverse populations against SARS-CoV-2 variants. Advances. Breakthrough infection significantly boosted neutralizing activities against SARS-CoV-2 variants as compared to booster immunization with inactivated vaccine. Vaccine-induced virus-specific T-cell immunity, on the other hand, may compensate for the shortfall. Furthermore, the public health system should target the most vulnerable group due to a poorer protective serological response in both infected and vaccinated adolescents.
