Reduced Humoral and Cellular Immune Response to Primary COVID-19 mRNA Vaccination in Kidney Transplanted Children Aged 5

Reduced Humoral and Cellular Immune Response to Primary COVID-19 mRNA Vaccination in Kidney Transplanted Children Aged 5–11 Years

Published:2023-07-14 Issue:7 Volume:15 Page:1553
ISSN:1999-4915
Container-title:Viruses
language:en
Short-container-title:Viruses

Author:

Lalia Jasmin K.¹,Schild Raphael²,Lütgehetmann Marc³⁴,Dunay Gabor A.¹²^ORCID,Kallinich Tilmann⁵,Kobbe Robin⁶⁷^ORCID,Massoud Mona⁸^ORCID,Oh Jun²^ORCID,Pietzsch Leonora⁹,Schulze-Sturm Ulf²,Schuetz Catharina⁹,Sibbertsen Freya¹^ORCID,Speth Fabian²,Thieme Sebastian⁹,Witkowski Mario¹⁰¹¹,Berner Reinhard⁹^ORCID,Muntau Ania C.²^ORCID,Gersting Søren W.¹^ORCID,Toepfner Nicole⁹^ORCID,Pagel Julia²⁴¹²,Paul Kevin¹²^ORCID

Affiliation:

1. University Children’s Research, UCR@Kinder-UKE, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Martinistr. 52, 20246 Hamburg, Germany

2. University Children’s Hospital, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Martinistr. 52, 20246 Hamburg, Germany

3. Institute of Medical Microbiology, Virology and Hygiene, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Martinistr. 52, 20246 Hamburg, Germany

4. German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), Partner Site Hamburg-Lübeck-Borstel-Riems, Inhoffenstr. 7, 38124 Brauschweig, Germany

5. Department of Pediatric Respiratory Medicine, Immunology and Critical Care Medicine, Charité University Medicine Berlin, Charitéplatz 1, 10117 Berlin, Germany

6. Institute for Infection Research and Vaccine Development (IIRVD), University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Martinistr. 52, 20246 Hamburg, Germany

7. Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Bernhard-Nocht-Institute for Tropical Medicine, Bernhard-Nocht-Straße 74, 20359 Hamburg, Germany

8. Therapeutic Gene Regulation, Deutsches Rheuma-Forschungszentrum (DRFZ), An Institute of the Leibniz Association, Charitéplatz 1, 10117 Berlin, Germany

9. Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus, Technische Universität Dresden, Fetscherstraße 74, 01307 Dresden, Germany

10. Institute of Microbiology, Infectious Diseases and Immunology, Laboratory of Innate Immunity, Charité University Medicine Berlin, Charitéplatz 1, 10117 Berlin, Germany

11. Mucosal and Developmental Immunology, Deutsches Rheuma-Forschungszentrum (DRFZ), An Institute of the Leibniz Association, Charitéplatz 1, 10117 Berlin, Germany

12. Division of Pediatric Stem Cell Transplantation, Immunology and Rheumatology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Martinistr. 52, 20246 Hamburg, Germany

Abstract

The situation of limited data concerning the response to COVID-19 mRNA vaccinations in immunocom-promised children hinders evidence-based recommendations. This prospective observational study investigated humoral and T cell responses after primary BNT162b2 vaccination in secondary immunocompromised and healthy children aged 5–11 years. Participants were categorized as: children after kidney transplantation (KTx, n = 9), proteinuric glomerulonephritis (GN, n = 4) and healthy children (controls, n = 8). Expression of activation-induced markers and cytokine secretion were determined to quantify the T cell response from PBMCs stimulated with peptide pools covering the spike glycoprotein of SARS-CoV-2 Wuhan Hu-1 and Omicron BA.5. Antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 spike receptor-binding domain were quantified in serum. Seroconversion was detected in 56% of KTx patients and in 100% of the GN patients and controls. Titer levels were significantly higher in GN patients and controls than in KTx patients. In Ktx patients, the humoral response increased after a third immunization. No differences in the frequency of antigen-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T cells between all groups were observed. T cells showed a predominant anti-viral capacity in their secreted cytokines; however, this capacity was reduced in KTx patients. This study provides missing evidence concerning the humoral and T cell response in immunocompromised children after COVID-19 vaccination.

Funder

Open Access Publication Fund of UKE

University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf and DFG

German Research Foundation Individual grants from the German Centre for Infection Research

iSTAR program

German Federal Ministry of Education and Research

Publisher

MDPI AG

Subject

Virology,Infectious Diseases

Link

https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4915/15/7/1553/pdf

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