학술논문
Impaired humoral immunity to BQ.1.1 in convalescent and vaccinated patients
Document Type
article
Author
Felix Dewald; Martin Pirkl; Martha Paluschinski; Joachim Kühn; Carina Elsner; Bianca Schulte; Jacqueline Knüfer; Elvin Ahmadov; Maike Schlotz; Göksu Oral; Michael Bernhard; Mark Michael; Maura Luxenburger; Marcel Andrée; Marc Tim Hennies; Wali Hafezi; Marlin Maybrit Müller; Philipp Kümpers; Joachim Risse; Clemens Kill; Randi Katrin Manegold; Ute von Frantzki; Enrico Richter; Dorian Emmert; Werner O. Monzon-Posadas; Ingo Gräff; Monika Kogej; Antonia Büning; Maximilian Baum; Finn Teipel; Babak Mochtarzadeh; Martin Wolff; Henning Gruell; Veronica Di Cristanziano; Volker Burst; Hendrik Streeck; Ulf Dittmer; Stephan Ludwig; Jörg Timm; Florian Klein
Source
Nature Communications, Vol 14, Iss 1, Pp 1-13 (2023)
Subject
Language
English
ISSN
2041-1723
Abstract
Abstract Determining SARS-CoV-2 immunity is critical to assess COVID-19 risk and the need for prevention and mitigation strategies. We measured SARS-CoV-2 Spike/Nucleocapsid seroprevalence and serum neutralizing activity against Wu01, BA.4/5 and BQ.1.1 in a convenience sample of 1,411 patients receiving medical treatment in the emergency departments of five university hospitals in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, in August/September 2022. 62% reported underlying medical conditions and 67.7% were vaccinated according to German COVID-19 vaccination recommendations (13.9% fully vaccinated, 54.3% one booster, 23.4% two boosters). We detected Spike-IgG in 95.6%, Nucleocapsid-IgG in 24.0%, and neutralization against Wu01, BA.4/5 and BQ.1.1 in 94.4%, 85.0%, and 73.8% of participants, respectively. Neutralization against BA.4/5 and BQ.1.1 was 5.6- and 23.4-fold lower compared to Wu01. Accuracy of S-IgG detection for determination of neutralizing activity against BQ.1.1 was reduced substantially. We explored previous vaccinations and infections as correlates of BQ.1.1 neutralization using multivariable and Bayesian network analyses. Given a rather moderate adherence to COVID-19 vaccination recommendations, this analysis highlights the need to improve vaccine-uptake to reduce the COVID-19 risk of immune evasive variants. The study was registered as clinical trial (DRKS00029414).