Postvaccination Immunogenicity of BNT162b2 SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine and Its Predictors in Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Abstract

Objectives: We prospectively compared the postvaccination immunity to messenger ribonucleic acid BNT162b2 severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) vaccine of our pediatric patients over 12 years old with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) to that of healthy controls and looked for predictors of its robustness. Methods: Anti-receptor binding domain, anti-spike S2, and anti-nucleocapsid immunoglobin-G (IgG) and immunoglobin-A levels were measured in 139 pediatric patients with IBD [65 fully vaccinated (2 doses), median age 16.3, interquartile range (IQR) 15.2–17.8 years, median time from vaccination (IQR) 61.0 (42.0–80.0) days] and 1744 controls (46, 37–57 years) using microblot array. Results: All IBD and control patients developed positive anti-receptor binding domain IgG antibodies at comparable titers. The proportion of observations with positive anti-spike S2 IgG was higher in patients with IBD than in controls [63% vs 21%, odds ratio 2.99 (1.51–5.90)], as was its titer [median (IQR) 485 (92–922) vs 79 [33–180] IU/mL]. Anti-receptor binding domain and anti-spike S2 IgG levels were associated with IBD status. We found an association between anti-spike S2 IgG levels and time since vaccination (β −4.85, 95% CI −7.14 to 2.71, P = 0.0001), history of SARS-CoV-2 polymerase chain reaction positivity (206.76, 95% CI 39.93–374.05, P = 0.0213), and anti-tumor necrosis factor treatment (−239.68, 95% CI −396.44–83.55, P = 0.0047). Forty-three percent of patients reported vaccination side effects (mostly mild). Forty-six percent of observations with positive anti-nucleocapsid IgG had a history of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Conclusions: Patients with IBD produced higher levels of postvaccination anti-spike S2 antibodies than controls. Previous SARS-CoV-2 infection is associated with higher production of postvaccination antibodies and anti-tumor necrosis factor treatment with lower production.