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

oleh: Jasmin K. Lalia, Raphael Schild, Marc Lütgehetmann, Gabor A. Dunay, Tilmann Kallinich, Robin Kobbe, Mona Massoud, Jun Oh, Leonora Pietzsch, Ulf Schulze-Sturm, Catharina Schuetz, Freya Sibbertsen, Fabian Speth, Sebastian Thieme, Mario Witkowski, Reinhard Berner, Ania C. Muntau, Søren W. Gersting, Nicole Toepfner, Julia Pagel, Kevin Paul

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2023-07-01

Deskripsi

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, <i>n</i> = 9), proteinuric glomerulonephritis (GN, <i>n</i> = 4) and healthy children (controls, <i>n</i> = 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.