Article
Detection of SARS-CoV2-specific antibody-releasing plasma cells using fluorospot technology in patients after mRNA vaccination
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Published: | September 14, 2021 |
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Introduction: mRNA vaccinations are a new technology introduced in the context of the current SARS-CoV2 pandemic. As the immune response to SARS-CoV2 is not fully understood, tools to measure the specific immune response are urgently needed. Elispot technology is able to demonstrate the functionality of plasma cells and plasmablasts to secret antibodies of a certain specificity. Fluorospot multicolour technology allows to detect multiple istoytpes in parallel and therefore minimized sample errors and sample size. We here present for the first time data on the antigen-specific detection of SARS-CoV2 spike protein specific plasmablasts and plasma cells using multicolour fluorescent Elispot.
Methods: 28 healthy donors and 25 patients with pre-existing chronic inflammatory diseases under anti-cytokine therapy were included. All donors were immunized with mRNA vaccines against SARS-CoV2 as part of the german vaccination campaign. Both groups received either BioNTech/Pfizer or Moderna vaccine 21-35 days after the first dose. Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells (PBMC) were isolated from blood samples followed by a Fluorospot assay detecting total IgA/IgG/IgM or anti SARS-CoV-2 S1 spike protein antibodies of all three isotypes. Analysis was performed on day 0 before vaccination and on day 7 following the secondary vaccination.
Results: On day 0 prior to the first immunization no SARS-CoV2 specific plasma cells could be detected in patients or controls in the peripheral blood. However, on d7 after the secondary immunization SARS-CoV2 specific plasma cells could be detected in all samples and all isotypes.
Conclusion: In both cohorts the presence on SARS-CoV2-specific plasma cells after secondary immunization could be demonstrated using fluorospot technology. This is the first time, that the effective and specific detection of Anti-SARS-Cov2 antibody secreting cells could be demonstrated in a multicolour fluorescent ELISPOT after mRNA-vaccination to SARS-CoV2 in healthy donors but also in patients under anti-cytokine therapy. In a next step, differences between the immunoglobulin isotypes will be analysed in more detail, to understand the differences in the immune response between patients and controls.
Disclosures: Lena Vullriede: keine, Ulf Geisen: keine, Maria Ciripoi: keine, Hayley Marie: keine, Dennis Berner: keine, Florian Tran: keine, Melike Sümbül, Annika Schaffarzyk: keine, Jan Schirmer: keine, Rainald Zeuner: keine, Anette Friedrichs: keine, Andrea Steinbach: keine, Sascha Gerdes: keine, Petra Bacher: keine, Stefan Schreiber: Pfizer, Bimba Franziska Hoyer: Pfizer