Circulating SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine Antigen Detected in the Plasma of mRNA-1273 Vaccine Recipients

[Emily]

https://academic.oup.com/cid/advance-article/doi/10.1093/cid/ciab465/6279075
Alana F Ogata, Chi-An Cheng, Michaël Desjardins, Yasmeen Senussi, Amy C Sherman, Megan Powell, Lewis Novack, Salena Von, Xiaofang Li, Lindsey R Baden, David R Walt, Circulating SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine Antigen Detected in the Plasma of mRNA-1273 Vaccine Recipients, Clinical Infectious Diseases, 2021;, ciab465, https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciab465
Abstract

SARS-CoV-2 proteins were measured in longitudinal plasma samples collected from 13 participants who received two doses of mRNA-1273 vaccine. 11 of 13 participants showed detectable levels of SARS-CoV-2 protein as early as day one after first vaccine injection. Clearance of detectable SARS-CoV-2 protein correlated with production of IgG and IgA.

COVID-19, mRNA vaccine, SARS-CoV-2 antigens, immune responses, spike
Topic:

• immune response
• drug clearance
• antigens
• plasma
• vaccines
• immunoglobulin a
• immunoglobulin g
• rna vaccines
• sars-cov-2
• covid-19
• covid-19 vaccines

Issue Section:
Brief Report

Limitations of the current study include the small sample size and potential biases that result from enrolling healthy, young adults, which may not be representative of the general population. Future studies should also examine the dynamics of antigen production with neutralization antibodies. Nonetheless, evidence of systemic detection of spike and S1 protein production from the mRNA-1273 vaccine is significant and has not yet been described in any vaccine study, likely due to limitations in assay sensitivity and timing assessment. The clinical relevance of this finding is unknown and should be further explored. These data show that S1 antigen production after the initial vaccination can be detected by day one and is present beyond the site of injection and the associated regional lymph nodes. Induction of IgG and IgA immune responses can be detected as early as day five post vaccination and are associated with clearance of spike and S1 antigen in the systemic circulation