Interferon-gamma release assays outcomes in healthy subjects following BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccination.
Rheumatol Int
; 42(3): 449-456, 2022 03.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1640824
ABSTRACT
The pathogenesis of COVID-19 involves both humoral and cellular immunological responses, with cell-mediated immunity being discussed as the primary and most effective immune response to viral infection. It is supposed that COVID-19 vaccines also elicited effective cell immune response, and specifically IFNγ secreted by SARS-CoV-2-specific T-helper 1 and Tcytotoxic cells. Using an interferon-gamma release assay (IGRA) test, we aimed to monitor cellular post-vaccination immunity in healthy subjects vaccinated with BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine (Comirnaty). We tested 37 healthcare workers (mean age 54.3 years, range 28-72, 22 females, 15 males) following COVID-19 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine and 15 healthy unvaccinated native persons as control subjects using QuantiFERON SARS-CoV-2 RUO test, performed approximately 1 month after vaccination. We also measured virus-neutralizing antibodies. Thirty-one out of 37 tested subjects had significantly raised levels of SARS-CoV-2 specific IFNγ against SARS-CoV-2 Ag1 and Ag2 1 month following COVID-19 vaccination. In addition, we found a significant difference between the IFNγ levels in fully vaccinated subjects and the control group (p < 0.01).We also found a substantial correlation (r = 0.9; p < 0.01) between virus-neutralizing antibodies titers and IFNγ concentrations released by T cells. We believe that IGRA tests are an excellent tool to assess the development of a post-vaccination immune response when immunized against SARS-CoV-2. However, IGRA-based tests should be performed within a few weeks following vaccination. Therefore, we can speculate that the application of these tests to assess long-term immune response is debatable.
Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
T-Lymphocytes
/
Immunity, Humoral
/
Immunogenicity, Vaccine
/
COVID-19
/
BNT162 Vaccine
Type of study:
Experimental Studies
Topics:
Vaccines
/
Variants
Limits:
Adult
/
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Language:
English
Journal:
Rheumatol Int
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
S00296-022-05091-7
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