mRNA COVID-19 vaccines induce superior immunoglobulin A titers in patients with cancer compared with viral vector vaccines: implications for immunization strategies. - 2025
mRNA COVID-19 vaccines induce superior immunoglobulin A titers in patients with cancer compared with viral vector vaccines: implications for immunization strategies.
[en] [en] OBJECTIVES: Immunoglobulin (Ig) A antibodies are involved in mucosal immunity and eliminate pathogens immediately at the point of entry. Vaccine-induced IgA antibodies could contribute to an additional layer of protection against SARS-CoV-2 for infection-prone patients with cancer. This might be particularly relevant for patients with cancer because they mount reduced IgG antibody titers after dual-dose BNT162b2 COVID-19 vaccination and even lower responses after double-dose ChAdOx1 vaccination than healthy individuals. However, data on vaccine-induced IgA antibodies are scarce, especially in patients with cancer.
METHODS: This study compares SARS-CoV-2 anti-spike (S1) IgA antibodies after dual-dose BNT162b2 vs ChAdOx1 vaccination in patients with cancer. SARS-CoV-2 anti-S1 IgA antibodies were quantified in serum samples collected 7 days after the second vaccination dose (N = 213) (IEQ-CoVS1RBD-IgA-1-RB enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kit, RayBiotech) and analyzed with colorimetric detection. In addition, correlations with different aspects of humoral immunity were assessed (neutralizing and IgG antibodies).
RESULTS: Significantly lower anti-S1 IgA antibody titers were reported in patients with cancer after dual-dose ChAdOx1 than BNT162b2 vaccination. Moreover, patients with cancer who received dual-dose BNT162b2 vaccination had a significant 16.44-fold increased chance to mount detectable IgA antibodies compared with patients receiving ChAdOx1 vaccination.
CONCLUSIONS: These findings highlight the potential role of boosters or alternative strategies to sustain mucosal immunity.
Disciplines :
Immunology & infectious disease
Author, co-author :
Debie, Yana ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Fundamental and Applied Research for Animals and Health (FARAH) > FARAH: Santé publique vétérinaire ; Center for Oncological Research (CORE), University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, Wilrijk, Belgium, Multidisciplinary Oncological Centre Antwerp (MOCA), Antwerp University Hospital, Drie Eikenstraat, Edegem, Belgium
Verbruggen, Lise ; Multidisciplinary Oncological Centre Antwerp (MOCA), Antwerp University Hospital, Drie Eikenstraat, Edegem, Belgium
Peeters, Marc; Center for Oncological Research (CORE), University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, Wilrijk, Belgium
van Dam, Peter A; Center for Oncological Research (CORE), University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, Wilrijk, Belgium, Multidisciplinary Oncological Centre Antwerp (MOCA), Antwerp University Hospital, Drie Eikenstraat, Edegem, Belgium
Vandamme, Timon ; Center for Oncological Research (CORE), University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, Wilrijk, Belgium, Multidisciplinary Oncological Centre Antwerp (MOCA), Antwerp University Hospital, Drie Eikenstraat, Edegem, Belgium. Electronic address: timon.vandamme@uza.be
Language :
English
Title :
mRNA COVID-19 vaccines induce superior immunoglobulin A titers in patients with cancer compared with viral vector vaccines: implications for immunization strategies.
Fight against Cancer Belgian Federal Government UZA - Universitair Ziekenhuis Antwerpen FWO - Research Foundation Flanders
Funding text :
This work was supported by the Belgian Government through Sciensano (grant nos. COVID-19_SC004, COVID-19_SC059, COVID-19_SC061) and Kom op tegen Kanker (KOTK_UZA/2020/12604/1). Y. Debie holds a Kom op tegen Kanker doctoral grant (KOTK_UA/2024/13889). T. Vandamme is holder of Senior Clinical Investigator grant 1803723N of the Research Foundation - Flanders (Belgium) (FWO). This retrospective study was approved by the ethics committee of the Antwerp University Hospital (EC number 5460). Moreover, the prospective studies of which we now retrospectively analyzed blood samples were approved by the central ethics committee of the Antwerp University Hospital and the Federal Agency for Medicine and Health Products (EudraCT nos. 2021\u2013000300\u201338 and 2021\u2013003573\u2013 58 and EC nos. 2021\u20130543, 2021.0541, and 2021.0110). All studies were executed in accordance with Good Clinical Practice and the Declaration of Helsinki [ICH GCP E6(R2)]. We kindly thank the B-VOICE and Tri-VOICE plus patients for study participation. We are grateful to the B-VOICE and Tri-VOICE plus study teams for patient inclusion and sample collection and processing. In addition, we would like to acknowledge the BelCoVac consortium for scientific contribution to the project. Conceptualization: YD, MP, PvD, TV; Data curation: YD, LV; Formal analysis: YD; Funding acquisition: YD, LV, MP, TV; Investigation: YD, LV; Methodology: YD, TV, LV; Project administration: YD, LV; Resources: MP, PvD, TV; Supervision: MP, PvD, TV, LV; Visualization: YD; Writing original draft: YD; Writing: review and editing: LV, MP, PvD, TV.
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