J Clin Virol . Comparison of humoral immunogenicity in solid organ transplant recipients after third-dose mRNA vaccine with homologous or heterologous schedules: An observational study

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J Clin Virol


. 2022 Dec 30;159:105374.
doi: 10.1016/j.jcv.2022.105374. Online ahead of print.
Comparison of humoral immunogenicity in solid organ transplant recipients after third-dose mRNA vaccine with homologous or heterologous schedules: An observational study


Ji-Man Kang ¹ , Juhan Lee ² , Kyu Ha Huh ² , Dong Jin Joo ² , Jae Geun Lee ² , Ha Yan Kim ³ , Myeongjee Lee ³ , Inkyung Jung ⁴ , Min Young Kim ⁵ , Sinyoung Kim ⁶ , Younhee Park ⁷ , Myoung Soo Kim ⁸



Affiliations

• PMID: 36592547
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jcv.2022.105374

Abstract

Background: Solid organ transplant recipients (SOTRs) are susceptible to severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19); however, immunogenicity studies of the Omicron variants per vaccination schedules are still lacking. We examined humoral immunogenicity following third-dose mRNA vaccine administration in Korean SOTRs who received primary COVID-19 vaccine series on homologous or heterologous schedules.
Methods: We recruited SOTRs at Severance Hospital from October 27, 2021, to March 31, 2022. Blood samples were collected between 14 days and 5 months after the second and third mRNA vaccine (BNT162b2 or mRNA-1273) doses. SARS-CoV-2 anti-spike IgG titer was analyzed. The neutralization inhibition rate was analyzed using the surrogate neutralization assay for the wild-type, Delta, and Omicron variants.
Results: No significant differences existed in the SARS-CoV-2 anti-spike IgG positivity rate between the homologous BNT162b2/BNT162b2/BNT162b2 (85%) and other heterologous groups (83% of ChAdOx1/ChAdOx1/BNT162b2, 90% of ChAdOx1/ChAdOx1/mRNA-1273, and 78% of ChAdOx1/BNT162b2/BNT162b2). No significant difference existed in the neutralization inhibition rates between the four groups for wild-type, Delta, and Omicron variants. Median neutralization inhibition rates against the Omicron variant (2-5%) were significantly lower than those against the wild-type (87-97%) and Delta (55-89%) variants (P < 0.001).
Conclusions: Regardless of the schedule, the neutralization inhibition rate against the Omicron variant was poor; therefore, additional preventive measures are required in such high-risk populations.

Keywords: COVID-19 vaccine; Heterologous; Korea; Omicron; Organ transplantation; SARS-CoV-2 variants.