Reactogenicity correlates only weakly with humoral immunogenicity after COVID-19 vaccination with BNT162b2 mRNA (Comirnaty®)

Held J, Esse J, Tascilar K, Steininger P, Schober K, Irrgang P, Alsalameh R, Tenbusch M, Seggewies C, Bogdan C (2021)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2021

Journal

Vaccines MDPI

Book Volume: 9

Article Number: 1063

Journal Issue: 10

DOI: 10.3390/vaccines9101063

Abstract

mRNA vaccines against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), such as BNT162b2 (Comirnaty®), have proven to be highly immunogenic and efficient but also show marked reactogenicity, leading to adverse effects (AEs). Here, we analyzed whether the severity of AEs predicts the antibody response against the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. Healthcare workers without prior SARS-CoV-2 infection, who received a prime-boost vaccination with BNT162b2, completed a standardized electronic questionnaire on the duration and severity of AEs. Serum specimens were collected two to four weeks after the boost vaccination and tested with the COVID-19 ELISA IgG (Vircell-IgG), the LIAISON® SARS-CoV-2 S1/S2 IgG CLIA (DiaSorin-IgG) and the iFlash-2019-nCoV NAb surrogate neutralization assay (Yhlo-NAb). A penalized linear regression model fitted by machine learning was used to correlate AEs with antibody levels. Eighty subjects were enrolled in the study. Systemic, but not local, AEs occurred more frequently after the boost vaccination. Elevated SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibody levels were measured in 92.5% of subjects with Vircell-IgG and in all subjects with DiaSorin-IgG and Yhlo-NAb. Gender, age and BMI showed no association with the antibody levels or with the AEs. The linear regression model identified headache, malaise and nausea as AEs with the greatest variable importance for higher antibody levels (Vircell-IgG and DiaSorin-IgG). However, the model performance for predicting antibody levels from AEs was very low for Vircell-IgG (squared correlation coefficient r² = 0.04) and DiaSorin-IgG (r² = 0.06). AEs did not predict the surrogate neutralization (Yhlo-NAb) results. In conclusion, AEs correlate only weakly with the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein antibody levels after COVID-19 vaccination with BNT162b2 mRNA.

Authors with CRIS profile

Jürgen Held Institute of Microbiology – Clinical Microbiology, Immunology and Hygiene Jan Esse Institute of Microbiology – Clinical Microbiology, Immunology and Hygiene Koray Tascilar Department of Medicine 3 – Rheumatology and Immunology Philipp Steininger Institute of Clinical and Molecular Virology Kilian Schober Institute of Microbiology – Clinical Microbiology, Immunology and Hygiene Matthias Tenbusch Professur für Genbasierte Immunisierungsverfahren Christian Bogdan Lehrstuhl für Mikrobiologie und Infektionsimmunologie

How to cite

APA:

Held, J., Esse, J., Tascilar, K., Steininger, P., Schober, K., Irrgang, P.,... Bogdan, C. (2021). Reactogenicity correlates only weakly with humoral immunogenicity after COVID-19 vaccination with BNT162b2 mRNA (Comirnaty®). Vaccines, 9(10). https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines9101063

MLA:

Held, Jürgen, et al. "Reactogenicity correlates only weakly with humoral immunogenicity after COVID-19 vaccination with BNT162b2 mRNA (Comirnaty®)." Vaccines 9.10 (2021).

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