SARS-CoV-2 vaccination may mitigate dysregulation of IL-1/IL-18 and gastrointestinal symptoms of the post-COVID-19 condition

Claudia Fischer; Edith Willscher; Lisa Paschold; Cornelia Gottschick; Bianca Klee; Sophie Diexer; Lidia Bosurgi; Jochen Dutzmann; Daniel Sedding; Thomas Frese; Matthias Girndt; Jessica I Hoell; Michael Gekle; Marylyn M Addo; Julian Schulze Zur Wiesch; Rafael Mikolajczyk; Mascha Binder; Christoph Schultheiß

doi:10.1038/s41541-024-00815-1

SARS-CoV-2 vaccination may mitigate dysregulation of IL-1/IL-18 and gastrointestinal symptoms of the post-COVID-19 condition

NPJ Vaccines. 2024 Feb 5;9(1):23. doi: 10.1038/s41541-024-00815-1.

Authors

Claudia Fischer^{1

2}, Edith Willscher³, Lisa Paschold³, Cornelia Gottschick⁴, Bianca Klee⁴, Sophie Diexer⁴, Lidia Bosurgi^{5

6}, Jochen Dutzmann⁷, Daniel Sedding⁷, Thomas Frese⁸, Matthias Girndt⁹, Jessica I Hoell¹⁰, Michael Gekle¹¹, Marylyn M Addo^{12

13

14}, Julian Schulze Zur Wiesch¹², Rafael Mikolajczyk⁴, Mascha Binder^{1

2}, Christoph Schultheiß^{15

16}

Affiliations

¹ Division of Medical Oncology, University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
² Laboratory of Translational Immuno-Oncology, Department of Biomedicine, University, and University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
³ Department of Internal Medicine IV, Oncology/Hematology, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, (Saale), Germany.
⁴ Institute for Medical Epidemiology, Biometrics, and Informatics (IMEBI), Interdisciplinary Center for Health Sciences, Medical School of the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, (Saale), Germany.
⁵ I. Department of Medicine, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
⁶ Protozoa Immunology, Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, Hamburg, Germany.
⁷ Mid-German Heart Center, Department of Cardiology and Intensive Care Medicine, University Hospital, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, (Saale), Germany.
⁸ Institute of General Practice and Family Medicine, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, (Saale), Germany.
⁹ Department of Internal Medicine II, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, (Saale), Germany.
¹⁰ Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, (Saale), Germany.
¹¹ Julius Bernstein-Institute of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, (Saale), Germany.
¹² I. Department of Internal Medicine, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
¹³ German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), Partner Site Hamburg-Lübeck-Borstel-Riems, Braunschweig, Germany.
¹⁴ University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Institute for Infection Research and Vaccine Development (IIRVD), Hamburg, Germany.
¹⁵ Division of Medical Oncology, University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland. christoph.schultheiss@unibas.ch.
¹⁶ Laboratory of Translational Immuno-Oncology, Department of Biomedicine, University, and University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland. christoph.schultheiss@unibas.ch.

Abstract

The rapid development of safe and effective vaccines helped to prevent severe disease courses after SARS-CoV-2 infection and to mitigate the progression of the COVID-19 pandemic. While there is evidence that vaccination may reduce the risk of developing post-COVID-19 conditions (PCC), this effect may depend on the viral variant. Therapeutic effects of post-infection vaccination have been discussed but the data for individuals with PCC remains inconclusive. In addition, extremely rare side effects after SARS-CoV-2 vaccination may resemble the heterogeneous PCC phenotype. Here, we analyze the plasma levels of 25 cytokines and SARS-CoV-2 directed antibodies in 540 individuals with or without PCC relative to one or two mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccinations as well as in 20 uninfected individuals one month after their initial mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccination. While none of the SARS-CoV-2 naïve individuals reported any persisting sequelae or exhibited PCC-like dysregulation of plasma cytokines, we detected lower levels of IL-1β and IL-18 in patients with ongoing PCC who received one or two vaccinations at a median of six months after infection as compared to unvaccinated PCC patients. This reduction correlated with less frequent reporting of persisting gastrointestinal symptoms. These data suggest that post-infection vaccination in patients with PCC might be beneficial in a subgroup of individuals displaying gastrointestinal symptoms.