Different humoral but similar cellular responses of patients with autoimmune inflammatory rheumatic diseases under disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs after COVID-19 vaccination

  • \(\bf Objectives\) The effect of different modes of immunosuppressive therapy in autoimmune inflammatory rheumatic diseases (AIRDs) remains unclear. We investigated the impact of immunosuppressive therapies on humoral and cellular responses after two-dose vaccination. \(\bf Methods\) Patients with rheumatoid arthritis, axial spondyloarthritis or psoriatic arthritis treated with TNFi, IL-17i (biological disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs, b-DMARDs), Janus-kinase inhibitors (JAKi) (targeted synthetic, ts-DMARD) or methotrexate (MTX) (conventional synthetic DMARD, csDMARD) alone or in combination were included. Almost all patients received mRNA-based vaccine, four patients had a heterologous scheme. Neutralising capacity and levels of IgG against SARS-CoV-2 spike-protein were evaluated together with quantification of activation markers on T-cells and their production of key cytokines 4 weeks after first and second vaccination. \(\bf Results\) 92 patients were included, median age 50 years, 50% female, 33.7% receiving TNFi, 26.1% IL-17i, 26.1% JAKi (all alone or in combination with MTX), 14.1% received MTX only. Although after first vaccination only 37.8% patients presented neutralising antibodies, the majority (94.5%) developed these after the second vaccination. Patients on IL17i developed the highest titres compared with the other modes of action. Co-administration of MTX led to lower, even if not significant, titres compared with b/tsDMARD monotherapy. Neutralising antibodies correlated well with IgG titres against SARS-CoV-2 spike-protein. T-cell immunity revealed similar frequencies of activated T-cells and cytokine profiles across therapies. \(\bf Conclusions\) Even after insufficient seroconversion for neutralising antibodies and IgG against SARS-CoV-2 spike-protein in patients with AIRDs on different medications, a second vaccination covered almost all patients regardless of DMARDs therapy, with better outcomes in those on IL-17i. However, no difference of bDMARD/tsDMARD or csDMARD therapy was found on the cellular immune response.

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Author:Ioana AndreicaORCiDGND, Arturo Blazquez-NavarroGND, Jan SokolarGND, Moritz AnftGND, Uta KiltzORCiDGND, Stephanie PfänderORCiDGND, Elena Vidal BlancoGND, Timm WesthoffORCiDGND, Nina BabelORCiDGND, Ulrik Stervbo-KristensenORCiDGND, Xenofon BaraliakosORCiDGND
URN:urn:nbn:de:hbz:294-103589
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1136/rmdopen-2022-002293
Parent Title (English):RMD Open
Publisher:BMJ Publishing Group
Place of publication:London, Vereinigtes Königreich
Document Type:Article
Language:English
Date of Publication (online):2023/11/10
Date of first Publication:2022/09/14
Publishing Institution:Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universitätsbibliothek
Tag:Open Access Fonds
Volume:8
Issue:2, Article e002293
First Page:e002293-1
Last Page:e002293-11
Note:
Article Processing Charge funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) and the Open Access Publication Fund of Ruhr-Universität Bochum.
Institutes/Facilities:Rheumazentrum Ruhrgebiet
Dewey Decimal Classification:Technik, Medizin, angewandte Wissenschaften / Medizin, Gesundheit
open_access (DINI-Set):open_access
Licence (English):License LogoCreative Commons - CC BY-NC 4.0 - Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International