Third and fourth vaccine doses broaden and prolong immunity to SARS-CoV-2 in immunocompromised adult patients

Background Previous studies have reported impaired humoral responses after SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccination in immunocompromised patients with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (IMID), particularly those treated with anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF) biologics. We previously reported that IMID patients exhibited greater waning of antibody and T cell responses compared to healthy controls after dose 2. Fewer data are available on the effects of third and fourth doses. Methods This observational cohort study collected plasma and peripheral blood mononuclear cells from healthy controls and untreated or treated IMID patients, pre-vaccination and after one to four doses of SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccine (BNT162b2 or mRNA-1273). SARS-CoV-2- specific antibody levels, neutralization, and T cell cytokine responses were measured against Wildtype (WT) and BA.1 and BA.5 variants of concern (VOCs). Results Third vaccine doses substantially restored and prolonged antibody and T cell responses in IMID patients and broadened responses against VOCs. Fourth dose effects were subtle but also prolonged antibody responses. However, IMID patients treated with anti-TNF, especially inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients, exhibited lower antibody responses even after the fourth dose. Although T cell IFNγ responses were maximal after one dose, IL-2 and IL-4 production increased with successive doses, and early production of these cytokines was predictive of neutralization responses at 3-4 months post-vaccination. Conclusion Our study demonstrates that third and fourth doses of the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine sustain and broaden immune responses to SARS-CoV-2, supporting the recommendation for three- and four-dose vaccination regimens in IMID patients. Funding COVID-19 Immunity Task Force and Speck family donation Conflict-of-Interest Statements Anne-Claude Gingras has received research funds from a research contract with Providence Therapeutics Holdings, Inc., for other projects, participated in the COVID-19 Immunity Task Force (CITF) Immune Science and Testing working party, chaired the CIHR Institute of Genetics Advisory Board, and chairs the SAB of the National Research Council of Canada Human Health Therapeutics Board. Vinod Chandran has received research grants from AbbVie, Amgen, and Eli Lilly and has received honoraria for advisory board member roles from AbbVie, Amgen, BMS, Eli Lilly, Janssen, Novartis, Pfizer, and UCB. His spouse is an employee of AstraZeneca. Vincent Piguet has no personal financial ties with any pharmaceutical company. He has received honoraria for speaker and/or advisory board member roles from AbbVie, Celgene, Janssen, Kyowa Kirin Co. Ltd, LEO Pharma, Novartis, Pfizer, Sanofi, UCB, and Union Therapeutics. In his role as Department Division Director of Dermatology at the University of Toronto, Dr. Piguet has received departmental support in the form of unrestricted educational grants from AbbVie, Bausch Health, Celgene, Janssen, LEO Pharma, Lilly, L’Oréal, NAOS, Novartis, Pfizer, Sandoz and Sanofi in the past 36 months. Vincent Piguet has received research grants from Sanofi, Abbvie and Novartis. Mark Silverberg has received research support, consulting fees and speaker honoraria from AbbVie, Janssen, Takeda, Pfizer, Gilead, and Amgen. All other authors have no conflicts to declare. ![Figure][1] ### Competing Interest Statement Anne-Claude Gingras has received research funds from a research contract with Providence Therapeutics Holdings, Inc., for other projects, participated in the COVID-19 Immunity Task Force (CITF) Immune Science and Testing working party, chaired the CIHR Institute of Genetics Advisory Board, and chairs the SAB of the National Research Council of Canada Human Health Therapeutics Board. Vinod Chandran has received research grants from AbbVie, Amgen, and Eli Lilly and has received honoraria for advisory board member roles from AbbVie, Amgen, BMS, Eli Lilly, Janssen, Novartis, Pfizer, and UCB. His spouse is an employee of AstraZeneca. Vincent Piguet has no personal financial ties with any pharmaceutical company. He has received honoraria for speaker and/or advisory board member roles from AbbVie, Celgene, Janssen, Kyowa Kirin Co. Ltd, LEO Pharma, Novartis, Pfizer, Sanofi, UCB, and Union Therapeutics. In his role as Department Division Director of Dermatology at the University of Toronto, Dr. Piguet has received departmental support in the form of unrestricted educational grants from AbbVie, Bausch Health, Celgene, Janssen, LEO Pharma, Lilly, L Oreal, NAOS, Novartis, Pfizer, Sandoz and Sanofi in the past 36 months. Vincent Piguet has received research grants from Sanofi, Abbvie and Novartis. Mark Silverberg has received research support, consulting fees and speaker honoraria from AbbVie, Janssen, Takeda, Pfizer, Gilead, and Amgen. All other authors have no conflicts to declare. ### Funding Statement This project was supported by funding from the Public Health Agency of Canada, through the Vaccine Surveillance Reference group and the COVID-19 Immunity Task Force and by a donation from Juan and Stefania Speck. Additional funding was provided by Canadian Institutes of Health (CIHR)/COVID-Immunity Task Force (CITF) grants VR-1 172 711 and vs1-175545 (to THW and ACG), CIHR FDN-143250 (to THW) and FDN-143301 (to ACG), GA2-177716 (to VC, ACG and THW) and GA1-177703 (to ACG) and the CIHR rapid response network to SARS-CoV-2 variants, CoVaRR-Net (to ACG). ### Author Declarations I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained. Yes The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below: Study approval. This study was approved by the ethics boards of the University of Toronto (REB protocol 27673), Mount Sinai Hospital/Sinai Health System (MSH REB 21-0022-E), University Health Network-Toronto Western Hospital division (REB 21-5096), and Women's College Hospital (REB approval 2021-0023-E). Written informed consent was obtained from all participants prior to participation. I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals. Yes I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance). Yes I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines, such as any relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material, if applicable. Yes All data produced in the present study are available upon reasonable request to the authors [1]: pending:yes