Impact of vaccine platform and BCG vaccination on antibody responses to COVID-19 vaccination

Nicole L Messina; Mariana G Sperotto; Marco A M Puga; Patricia V da Silva; Roberto D de Oliveira; Cecilia L Moore; Laure F Pittet; Tenaya Jamieson; Margareth Dalcolmo; Glauce Dos Santos; Bruno Jardim; Marcus V G Lacerda; Nigel Curtis; Julio Croda

doi:10.3389/fimmu.2023.1172851

Impact of vaccine platform and BCG vaccination on antibody responses to COVID-19 vaccination

Front Immunol. 2023 Jul 3:14:1172851. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1172851. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Nicole L Messina^{1

2}, Mariana G Sperotto^{3

4}, Marco A M Puga^{3

4}, Patricia V da Silva^{3

4}, Roberto D de Oliveira^{5

6}, Cecilia L Moore⁷, Laure F Pittet^{1

2

8}, Tenaya Jamieson¹, Margareth Dalcolmo^{9

10}, Glauce Dos Santos¹¹, Bruno Jardim¹², Marcus V G Lacerda¹², Nigel Curtis^{1

2

8}, Julio Croda^{3

4

13}

Affiliations

¹ Infectious Diseases Group, Infection and Immunity Theme, Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Parkville, VIC, Australia.
² Department of Paediatrics, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, Australia.
³ School of Medicine, Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul, Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil.
⁴ Oswaldo Cruz Foundation Mato Grosso do Sul, Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil.
⁵ State University of Mato Grosso do Sul, Dourados-Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil.
⁶ Federal University of Grande Dourados, Dourados, Brazil.
⁷ Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics Unit, Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Parkville, VIC, Australia.
⁸ Infectious Diseases, The Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, Australia.
⁹ Helio Fraga Reference Center, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation Ministry of Health, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
¹⁰ Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
¹¹ National School of Public Health, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
¹² Institute of Clinical Research Carlos Borborema, Fundação de Medicina Tropical Doutor Heitor Vieira Dourado, Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil.
¹³ Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, CT, United States.

Abstract

Multiple factors, including vaccine platform and prior vaccinations, influence vaccine responses. We compared antibody responses to CoronaVac (Sinovac) and ChAdOx1-S (AstraZeneca-Oxford) vaccination in 874 healthcare workers in Brazil. As participants were randomised to BCG vaccination or placebo in the preceding 0-6 months as part of the BCG vaccination to reduce the impact of COVID-19 in healthcare workers (BRACE) trial, we also investigated the influence of recent BCG vaccination on antibody responses to these COVID-19 vaccines. Twenty-eight days after the second dose of each vaccine, ChAdOx1-S induced a stronger anti-spike IgG response than CoronaVac vaccination. Recent BCG vaccination did not impact IgG antibody responses to ChAdOx1-S or CoronaVac.

Keywords: BCG; COVID-19; ChAdOx1-S; CoronaVac; antibody; vaccine.

Publication types

Randomized Controlled Trial
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Antibody Formation
BCG Vaccine
COVID-19 Vaccines*
COVID-19* / prevention & control
ChAdOx1 nCoV-19
Humans
Immunoglobulin G
Vaccination

Substances

sinovac COVID-19 vaccine
COVID-19 Vaccines
BCG Vaccine
ChAdOx1 nCoV-19
Immunoglobulin G

Grants and funding

The Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI) leads the BRACE trial across 36 sites in five countries. It is supported by the Victorian Government’s Operational Infrastructure Support Programme. The BRACE trial is supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation [INV-017302], the Minderoo Foundation [COV-001], Sarah and Lachlan Murdoch, the Royal Children’s Hospital Foundation [2020-1263 BRACE Trial], Health Services Union NSW, the Peter Sowerby Foundation, SA Health, the Insurance Advisernet Foundation, the NAB Foundation, the Calvert-Jones Foundation, the Modara Pines Charitable Foundation, the UHG Foundation Pty Ltd, Epworth Healthcare and individual donors. NC is supported by a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Investigator Grant [GNT1197117]. LP is supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation [Early Postdoc Mobility Grant, P2GEP3_178155]. MS is supported by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior – Brasil (CAPES) – Finance Code 001. The funders were not involved in the study design, collection, analysis, interpretation of data, the writing of this article or the decision to submit it for publication.