TY - JOUR
T1 - High torque tenovirus (TTV) load before first vaccine dose is associated with poor serological response to COVID-19 vaccination in lung transplant recipients
AU - Hoek, Rogier As
AU - Verschuuren, Erik Am
AU - de Vries, Rory D
AU - Vonk, Judith M
AU - van Baarle, Debbie
AU - van der Heiden, Marieke
AU - van Gemert, Johanna P
AU - Gore, Edmund J
AU - Niesters, Hubert Gm
AU - Erasmus, Michiel
AU - Hellemons, Merel E
AU - Scherbeijn, Sandra Mj
AU - Wijbenga, Nynke
AU - Mahtab, Edris A F
AU - GeurtsvanKessel, Corine H
AU - Buter, Coretta Van Leer
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Annemarie Geel, Thea Scholtens, Annika Post and Willie Steenhuis for their assistance in the logistical and administrative management of the participants, and Susanne Bogers en Faye de Wilt for their dataprocessing expertise.
Funding Information:
The authors have no conflicts of interest. This study was made possible by the support of the Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development (ZonMW).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Authors
PY - 2022/6/1
Y1 - 2022/6/1
N2 - BACKGROUND: Serological responses to COVID-19 vaccination are diminished in recipients of solid organ transplants, especially in lung transplant recipients (LTR), probably as result of immunosuppressive treatment. There is currently no marker of immunosuppression that can be used to predict the COVID-19 vaccination response. Here, we study whether torque tenovirus (TTV), a highly prevalent virus can be used as an indicator of immunosuppression.METHODS: The humoral response to the mRNA 1273 vaccine was assessed in 103 LTR, who received a transplant between 4 and 237 months prior to vaccination, by measuring Spike (S)-specific IgG levels at baseline, 28 days after first, and 28 days after the second vaccination. TTV loads were determined by RT-PCR and Pearson's correlation coefficient was calculated to correlate serological responses to TTV load.RESULTS: Humoral responses to COVID-19 vaccination were observed in 41 of 103 (40%) LTR at 28 days after the second vaccination. Sixty-two of 103 (60%) were non-responders. Lower TTV loads at baseline (significantly) correlated with higher S-specific antibodies and a higher percentage of responders. Lower TTV loads also strongly correlated with longer time since transplantation, indicating that participants with lower TTV loads were longer after transplantation.CONCLUSIONS: This study shows a better humoral response to the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine in subjects with a lower TTV load pre-vaccination. In addition, TTV load correlates with the time after transplantation. Further studies on the use of TTV load in vaccination efficacy studies in immunocompromised cohorts should provide leads for the potential use of this marker for optimizing vaccination response.
AB - BACKGROUND: Serological responses to COVID-19 vaccination are diminished in recipients of solid organ transplants, especially in lung transplant recipients (LTR), probably as result of immunosuppressive treatment. There is currently no marker of immunosuppression that can be used to predict the COVID-19 vaccination response. Here, we study whether torque tenovirus (TTV), a highly prevalent virus can be used as an indicator of immunosuppression.METHODS: The humoral response to the mRNA 1273 vaccine was assessed in 103 LTR, who received a transplant between 4 and 237 months prior to vaccination, by measuring Spike (S)-specific IgG levels at baseline, 28 days after first, and 28 days after the second vaccination. TTV loads were determined by RT-PCR and Pearson's correlation coefficient was calculated to correlate serological responses to TTV load.RESULTS: Humoral responses to COVID-19 vaccination were observed in 41 of 103 (40%) LTR at 28 days after the second vaccination. Sixty-two of 103 (60%) were non-responders. Lower TTV loads at baseline (significantly) correlated with higher S-specific antibodies and a higher percentage of responders. Lower TTV loads also strongly correlated with longer time since transplantation, indicating that participants with lower TTV loads were longer after transplantation.CONCLUSIONS: This study shows a better humoral response to the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine in subjects with a lower TTV load pre-vaccination. In addition, TTV load correlates with the time after transplantation. Further studies on the use of TTV load in vaccination efficacy studies in immunocompromised cohorts should provide leads for the potential use of this marker for optimizing vaccination response.
KW - 2019-nCoV Vaccine mRNA-1273
KW - COVID-19/prevention & control
KW - COVID-19 Vaccines
KW - Humans
KW - Lung
KW - SARS-CoV-2
KW - Torque
KW - Torque teno virus/genetics
KW - Transplant Recipients
KW - Vaccination
U2 - 10.1016/j.healun.2022.03.006
DO - 10.1016/j.healun.2022.03.006
M3 - Article
C2 - 35606065
SN - 1053-2498
VL - 41
SP - 765
EP - 772
JO - The Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation
JF - The Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation
IS - 6
ER -