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Murray SM, Pose E, Wittner M, Londoño MC, Schaub G, Cook J, Dimitriadis S, Meacham G, Irwin S, Lim Z, Duengelhoef P, Sterneck M, Lohse AW, Perez V, Trivedi P, Bhandal K, Mullish BH, Manousou P, Provine NM, Avitabile E, Carroll M, Tipton T, Healy S, Burra P, Klenerman P, Dunachie S, Kronsteiner B, Maciola AK, Pasqual G, Hernandez-Gea V, Garcia-Pagan JC, Lampertico P, Iavarone M, Gines P, Lütgehetmann M, Schulze Zur Wiesch J, Russo FP, Barnes E, Marjot T. Immune responses and clinical outcomes after COVID-19 vaccination in patients with liver disease and liver transplant recipients. J Hepatol 2024; 80:109-123. [PMID: 37863203 PMCID: PMC10914634 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhep.2023.10.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/09/2023] [Revised: 09/20/2023] [Accepted: 10/03/2023] [Indexed: 10/22/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND & AIMS Comparative assessments of immunogenicity following different COVID-19 vaccines in patients with distinct liver diseases are lacking. SARS-CoV-2-specific T-cell and antibody responses were evaluated longitudinally after one to three vaccine doses, with long-term follow-up for COVID-19-related clinical outcomes. METHODS A total of 849 participants (355 with cirrhosis, 74 with autoimmune hepatitis [AIH], 36 with vascular liver disease [VLD], 257 liver transplant recipients [LTRs] and 127 healthy controls [HCs]) were recruited from four countries. Standardised immune assays were performed pre and post three vaccine doses (V1-3). RESULTS In the total cohort, there were incremental increases in antibody titres after each vaccine dose (p <0.0001). Factors associated with reduced antibody responses were age and LT, whereas heterologous vaccination, prior COVID-19 and mRNA platforms were associated with greater responses. Although antibody titres decreased between post-V2 and pre-V3 (p = 0.012), patients with AIH, VLD, and cirrhosis had equivalent antibody responses to HCs post-V3. LTRs had lower and more heterogenous antibody titres than other groups, including post-V3 where 9% had no detectable antibodies; this was heavily influenced by intensity of immunosuppression. Vaccination increased T-cell IFNγ responses in all groups except LTRs. Patients with liver disease had lower functional antibody responses against nine Omicron subvariants and reduced T-cell responses to Omicron BA.1-specific peptides compared to wild-type. 122 cases of breakthrough COVID-19 were reported of which 5/122 (4%) were severe. Of the severe cases, 4/5 (80%) occurred in LTRs and 2/5 (40%) had no serological response post-V2. CONCLUSION After three COVID-19 vaccines, patients with liver disease generally develop robust antibody and T-cell responses to vaccination and have mild COVID-19. However, LTRs have sustained no/low antibody titres and appear most vulnerable to severe disease. IMPACT AND IMPLICATIONS Standardised assessments of the immune response to different COVID-19 vaccines in patients with liver disease are lacking. We performed antibody and T-cell assays at multiple timepoints following up to three vaccine doses in a large cohort of patients with a range of liver conditions. Overall, the three most widely available vaccine platforms were immunogenic and appeared to protect against severe breakthrough COVID-19. This will provide reassurance to patients with chronic liver disease who were deemed at high risk of severe COVID-19 during the pre-vaccination era, however, liver transplant recipients had the lowest antibody titres and remained vulnerable to severe breakthrough infection. We also characterise the immune response to multiple SARS-CoV-2 variants and describe the interaction between disease type, severity, and vaccine platform. These insights may prove useful in the event of future viral infections which also require rapid vaccine development and delivery to patients with liver disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sam M Murray
- Peter Medawar Building for Pathogen Research, Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Elisa Pose
- Liver Unit, Hospital Clínic, Institut de Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain; CIBERehd (Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red Enfermedades Hepáticas y Digestivas), Spain
| | - Melanie Wittner
- German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), Partner Site Hamburg-Lübeck-Borstel-Riems, Germany; Department of Internal Medicine, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Maria-Carlota Londoño
- Liver Unit, Hospital Clínic, Institut de Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain; CIBERehd (Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red Enfermedades Hepáticas y Digestivas), Spain
| | - Golda Schaub
- German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), Partner Site Hamburg-Lübeck-Borstel-Riems, Germany; Department of Internal Medicine, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Jonathan Cook
- Centre for Statistics in Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Stavros Dimitriadis
- Translational Gastroenterology Unit, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Georgina Meacham
- Translational Gastroenterology Unit, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Sophie Irwin
- Translational Gastroenterology Unit, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Zixiang Lim
- Translational Gastroenterology Unit, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Paul Duengelhoef
- Department of Internal Medicine, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Martina Sterneck
- Department of Internal Medicine, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Ansgar W Lohse
- German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), Partner Site Hamburg-Lübeck-Borstel-Riems, Germany; Department of Internal Medicine, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Valeria Perez
- Liver Unit, Hospital Clínic, Institut de Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain; CIBERehd (Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red Enfermedades Hepáticas y Digestivas), Spain; Health Care Provider of the European Reference Network on Rare Liver Disorders (ERN-Liver), Germany
| | - Palak Trivedi
- National Institute for Health Research Birmingham Biomedical Research Centre, Centre for Liver and Gastrointestinal Research, Institute of Immunology and Immunotherapy, University of Birmingham, UK; Liver Unit, University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, UK
| | - Khush Bhandal
- Liver Unit, University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, UK
| | - Benjamin H Mullish
- Division of Digestive Diseases, Department of Metabolism, Digestion and Reproduction, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London, London, UK; Department of Hepatology, St Mary's Hospital, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, London, UK
| | - Pinelopi Manousou
- Division of Digestive Diseases, Department of Metabolism, Digestion and Reproduction, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London, London, UK; Department of Hepatology, St Mary's Hospital, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, London, UK
| | - Nicholas M Provine
- Translational Gastroenterology Unit, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Emma Avitabile
- Liver Unit, Hospital Clínic, Institut de Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain; CIBERehd (Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red Enfermedades Hepáticas y Digestivas), Spain
| | - Miles Carroll
- Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Tom Tipton
- Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Saoirse Healy
- Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Patrizia Burra
- University of Padova, Department of Surgery, Oncology and Gastroenterology DISCOG, Italy
| | - Paul Klenerman
- Peter Medawar Building for Pathogen Research, Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK; Translational Gastroenterology Unit, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK; The Oxford NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, Oxford University Hospital NHS Trust, Oxford, UK
| | - Susanna Dunachie
- Peter Medawar Building for Pathogen Research, Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK; The Oxford NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, Oxford University Hospital NHS Trust, Oxford, UK; Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit, University of Mahidol, Bangkok, Thailand
| | - Barbara Kronsteiner
- Peter Medawar Building for Pathogen Research, Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK; The Oxford NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, Oxford University Hospital NHS Trust, Oxford, UK; Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit, University of Mahidol, Bangkok, Thailand
| | - Agnieszka Katarzyna Maciola
- Laboratory of Synthetic Immunology, Department of Surgery, Oncology and Gastroenterology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
| | - Giulia Pasqual
- Laboratory of Synthetic Immunology, Department of Surgery, Oncology and Gastroenterology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy; Veneto Institute of Oncology IOV-IRCCS, Padova, Italy
| | - Virginia Hernandez-Gea
- Liver Unit, Hospital Clínic, Institut de Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain; CIBERehd (Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red Enfermedades Hepáticas y Digestivas), Spain; Health Care Provider of the European Reference Network on Rare Liver Disorders (ERN-Liver), Germany
| | - Juan Carlos Garcia-Pagan
- Liver Unit, Hospital Clínic, Institut de Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain; CIBERehd (Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red Enfermedades Hepáticas y Digestivas), Spain; Health Care Provider of the European Reference Network on Rare Liver Disorders (ERN-Liver), Germany
| | - Pietro Lampertico
- Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Foundation IRCCS Ca' Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milan, Italy; CRC "A. M. and A. Migliavacca" Center for Liver Disease, Department of Pathophysiology and Transplantation, University of Milan, Milan, Italy
| | - Massimo Iavarone
- Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Foundation IRCCS Ca' Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milan, Italy
| | - Pere Gines
- Liver Unit, Hospital Clínic, Institut de Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain; CIBERehd (Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red Enfermedades Hepáticas y Digestivas), Spain
| | - Marc Lütgehetmann
- Department of Internal Medicine, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany; Institute of Medical Microbiology, Virology and Hygiene, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Julian Schulze Zur Wiesch
- German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), Partner Site Hamburg-Lübeck-Borstel-Riems, Germany; Department of Internal Medicine, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Francesco Paolo Russo
- University of Padova, Department of Surgery, Oncology and Gastroenterology DISCOG, Italy
| | - Eleanor Barnes
- Peter Medawar Building for Pathogen Research, Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK; The Oxford NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, Oxford University Hospital NHS Trust, Oxford, UK.
| | - Thomas Marjot
- Oxford Centre for Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism (OCDEM), NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre, Churchill Hospital, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK; Oxford Liver Unit, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, UK.
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