BNT162b2-boosted Immune Responses Six Months After Heterologous or Homologous ChAdOx1nCoV-19/BNT162b2 Vaccination Against COVID-19

Overview

Journal Nat Commun

Specialty Biology

Date 2022 Aug 18

PMID 35982040

Authors

Georg M N Behrens

Joana Barros-Martins

Anne Cossmann

Gema Morillas Ramos

Metodi V Stankov

Ivan Odak

Alexandra Dopfer-Jablonka

Laura Hetzel

Miriam Kohler

Gwendolyn Patzer

Christoph Binz

Christiane Ritter

Michaela Friedrichsen

Christian Schultze-Florey

Inga Ravens

Stefanie Willenzon

Anja Bubke

Jasmin Ristenpart

Anika Janssen

George Ssebyatika

Verena Krahling

Gunter Bernhardt

Markus Hoffmann

Stefan Pohlmann

Thomas Krey

Berislav Bosnjak

Swantje I Hammerschmidt

Reinhold Forster

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Heterologous prime/boost vaccination with a vector-based approach (ChAdOx-1nCov-19, ChAd) followed by an mRNA vaccine (e.g. BNT162b2, BNT) has been reported to be superior in inducing protective immunity compared to repeated application of the same vaccine. However, data comparing immunity decline after homologous and heterologous vaccination as well as effects of a third vaccine application after heterologous ChAd/BNT vaccination are lacking. Here we show longitudinal monitoring of ChAd/ChAd (n = 41) and ChAd/BNT (n = 88) vaccinated individuals and the impact of a third vaccination with BNT. The third vaccination greatly augments waning anti-spike IgG but results in only moderate increase in spike-specific CD4 + and CD8 + T cell numbers in both groups, compared to cell frequencies already present after the second vaccination in the ChAd/BNT group. More importantly, the third vaccination efficiently restores neutralizing antibody responses against the Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta variants of the virus, but neutralizing activity against the B.1.1.529 (Omicron) variant remains severely impaired. In summary, inferior SARS-CoV-2 specific immune responses following homologous ChAd/ChAd vaccination can be compensated by heterologous BNT vaccination, which might influence the choice of vaccine type for subsequent vaccination boosts.

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