The impact of Bacillus Calmette-Guérin vaccination on antibody response after COVID-19 vaccination

Esther J M Taks; Simone J C F M Moorlag; Konstantin Föhse; Elles Simonetti; Christa E van der Gaast-de Jongh; Cornelis H van Werkhoven; Marc J M Bonten; Jaap Ten Oever; Marien I de Jonge; Janneke H H M van de Wijgert; Mihai G Netea

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2023.108062

The impact of Bacillus Calmette-Guérin vaccination on antibody response after COVID-19 vaccination

iScience. 2023 Sep 28;26(11):108062. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.108062. eCollection 2023 Nov 17.

Authors

Esther J M Taks^{1

2}, Simone J C F M Moorlag^{1

2}, Konstantin Föhse^{1

2}, Elles Simonetti^{2

3}, Christa E van der Gaast-de Jongh^{2

3}, Cornelis H van Werkhoven⁴, Marc J M Bonten⁴, Jaap Ten Oever^{1

2}, Marien I de Jonge^{2

3}, Janneke H H M van de Wijgert⁴, Mihai G Netea^{1

2

5}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Internal Medicine, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
² Radboud Center for Infectious Diseases, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
³ Department of Laboratory Medicine, Laboratory of Medical Immunology, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
⁴ Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
⁵ Department for Immunology and Metabolism, Life and Medical Sciences Institute (LIMES), University of Bonn, Germany.

Abstract

Earlier studies showed that BCG vaccination improves antibody responses of subsequent vaccinations. Similarly, in older volunteers we found an increased IgG receptor-binding domain (RBD) concentration after SARS-CoV-2 infection if they were recently vaccinated with BCG. This study aims to assess the effect of BCG on the serum antibody concentrations induced by COVID-19 vaccination in a population of adults older than 60 years. Serum was collected from 1,555 participants of the BCG-CORONA-ELDERLY trial a year after BCG or placebo, and we analyzed the anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody concentrations using a fluorescent-microsphere-based multiplex immunoassay. Individuals who received the full primary COVID-19 vaccination series before serum collection and did not test positive for SARS-CoV-2 between inclusion and serum collection were included in analyses (n = 945). We found that BCG vaccination before first COVID-19 vaccine (median 347 days [IQR 329-359]) did not significantly impact the IgG RBD concentration after COVID-19 vaccination in an older European population.

Keywords: health sciences; medical science; microbiology; virology.