Comparative Immune Response after Vaccination with SOBERANA® 02 and SOBERANA® plus Heterologous Scheme and Natural Infection in Young Children

Rocmira Pérez-Nicado; Chiara Massa; Laura Marta Rodríguez-Noda; Anja Müller; Rinaldo Puga-Gómez; Yariset Ricardo-Delgado; Beatriz Paredes-Moreno; Meiby Rodríguez-González; Marylé García-Ferrer; Ilianet Palmero-Álvarez; Aniurka Garcés-Hechavarría; Daniel G Rivera; Yury Valdés-Balbín; Vicente Vérez-Bencomo; Dagmar García-Rivera; Barbara Seliger

doi:10.3390/vaccines11111636

Comparative Immune Response after Vaccination with SOBERANA^® 02 and SOBERANA^® plus Heterologous Scheme and Natural Infection in Young Children

Vaccines (Basel). 2023 Oct 25;11(11):1636. doi: 10.3390/vaccines11111636.

Authors

Rocmira Pérez-Nicado¹, Chiara Massa^{2

3}, Laura Marta Rodríguez-Noda¹, Anja Müller³, Rinaldo Puga-Gómez⁴, Yariset Ricardo-Delgado⁴, Beatriz Paredes-Moreno¹, Meiby Rodríguez-González¹, Marylé García-Ferrer¹, Ilianet Palmero-Álvarez¹, Aniurka Garcés-Hechavarría¹, Daniel G Rivera⁵, Yury Valdés-Balbín¹, Vicente Vérez-Bencomo¹, Dagmar García-Rivera¹, Barbara Seliger^{2

3

6}

Affiliations

¹ Finlay Vaccine Institute, 200 and 21 Street, Havana 11600, Cuba.
² Institute for Translational Immunology, Brandenburg Medical School "Theodor Fontane", 14770 Brandenburg, Germany.
³ Medical Faculty, Martin Luther University, 06112 Halle (Saale), Germany.
⁴ Pediatric Hospital "Juan Manuel Márquez", Havana 11500, Cuba.
⁵ Laboratory of Synthetic and Biomolecular Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Havana, Havana 10400, Cuba.
⁶ Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.

Abstract

(1) Background: In children, SARS-CoV-2 infection is mostly accompanied by mild COVID-19 symptoms. However, multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C) and long-term sequelae are often severe complications. Therefore, the protection of the pediatric population against SARS-CoV-2 with effective vaccines is particularly important. Here, we compare the humoral and cellular immune responses elicited in children (n = 15, aged 5-11 years) vaccinated with the RBD-based vaccines SOBERANA^® 02 and SOBERANA^® Plus combined in a heterologous scheme with those from children (n = 10, aged 4-11 years) who recovered from mild symptomatic COVID-19. (2) Methods: Blood samples were taken 14 days after the last dose for vaccinated children and 45-60 days after the infection diagnosis for COVID-19 recovered children. Anti-RBD IgG and ACE2-RBD inhibition were assessed by ELISA; IgA, cytokines, and cytotoxic-related proteins were determined by multiplex assays. Total B and T cell subpopulations and IFN-γ release were measured by multiparametric flow cytometry using a large panel of antibodies after in vitro stimulation with S1 peptides. (3) Results: Significant higher levels of specific anti-RBD IgG and IgA and ACE2-RBD inhibition capacity were found in vaccinated children in comparison to COVID-19 recovered children. Th1-like and Th2-like CD4⁺ T cells were also significantly higher in vaccinated subjects. IFN-γ secretion was higher in central memory CD4⁺ T cells of COVID-19 recovered children, but no differences between both groups were found in the CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ T cell effector, terminal effector, and naïve T cell subpopulations. In contrast to low levels of IL-4, high levels of IL-2, IL-6, IFN-γ, and IL-10 suggest a predominant Th1 cell polarization. Cytotoxic-related proteins granzyme A and B, perforin, and granulin were also found in the supernatant after S1 stimulation in both vaccinated and recovered children. (4) Conclusions: Vaccination with the heterologous scheme of SOBERANA^® 02/SOBERANA^® Plus induces a stronger antibody and cellular immune response compared to natural infections in young children.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; SARS-CoV-2 RBD IgG; children; memory T cell; vaccine.

Abstract

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