A potential association between obesity and reduced effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccine-induced neutralizing humoral immunity.

Publisher: Wiley-Liss Country of Publication: United States NLM ID: 7705876 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1096-9071 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 01466615 NLM ISO Abbreviation: J Med Virol Subsets: MEDLINE

Publication: New York Ny : Wiley-Liss
Original Publication: New York, Liss.

COVID-19 Vaccines* ; COVID-19*/epidemiology ; COVID-19*/prevention & control; Humans ; BNT162 Vaccine ; COVID-19 Testing ; Immunity, Humoral ; Seroepidemiologic Studies ; Antibodies, Neutralizing ; Antibodies, Viral ; Obesity ; SARS-CoV-2 ; Vaccination

Due to the adverse effects of obesity on host immunity, this study investigated the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines (BNT162b2, ChAdOx-nCov-2019, and mRNA-1273) in inducing anti-SARS-CoV-2 Spike (S) neutralizing antibodies among individuals with various obesity classes (class I, II, III, and super obesity). Sera from vaccinated obese individuals (n = 73) and normal BMI controls (n = 46) were subjected to S-based enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and serum-neutralization test (SNT) to determine the prevalence and titer of anti-SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies. Nucleocapsid-ELISA was also utilized to distinguish between immunity acquired via vaccination only versus vaccination plus recovery from infection. Data were linked to participant demographics including age, gender, past COVID-19 diagnosis, and COVID-19 vaccination profile. S-based ELISA demonstrated high seroprevalence rates (>97%) in the study and control groups whether samples with evidence of past infection were included or excluded. Interestingly, however, SNT demonstrated a slightly significant reduction in both the rate and titer of anti-SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies among vaccinated obese individuals (60/73; 82.19%) compared to controls (45/46; 97.83%). The observed reduction in COVID-19 vaccine-induced neutralizing humoral immunity among obese individuals occurs independently of gender, recovery from past infection, and period from last vaccination. Our data suggest that COVID-19 vaccines are highly effective in inducing protective humoral immunity. This effectiveness, however, is potentially reduced among obese individuals which highlight the importance of booster doses to improve their neutralizing immunity. Further investigations on larger sample size remain necessary to comprehensively conclude about the effect of obesity on COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness on humoral immunity induction.
(© 2022 Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

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Keywords: COVID-19 vaccine; ELISA; SARS-CoV-2; humoral immunity; mRNA vaccine; obesity

0 (COVID-19 Vaccines)
0 (BNT162 Vaccine)
0 (Antibodies, Neutralizing)
0 (Antibodies, Viral)

Date Created: 20220906 Date Completed: 20230110 Latest Revision: 20230208

20230208

PMC9539352

10.1002/jmv.28130

36068377