An Italian study has demonstrated “the efficacy of the anti-Covid-19 booster vaccination in strengthening the immunological protection against Sars-CoV2 infection in a population of patients undergoing kidney transplantation”. The work was completed by the National Research Council (Cnr) and by the ‘A. Cardarelli’ of Naples, and was published in the international magazine ‘Viruses’.
The study is the result of the work of researchers from two Institutes of the National Research Council of Naples, the Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology (Cnr-Ibbc) and the Institute of Genetics and Biophysics (Cnr-Igb), both belonging to at the Department of Biomedical Sciences of the Cardarelli Body and Uoc Medicine 1. The team demonstrated “that the booster doses administered to subjects with an important state of pharmacological immunosuppression following a kidney transplant favored a good immunological response to the Sars-CoV-2 virus, both against the original Wuhan viral strain and the variant Omicron, in terms of neutralizing antibody production and T lymphocyte-mediated cellular response”.
“Although the global state of emergency has now ended, also thanks to the success of vaccination campaigns, health care remains high towards frail patients, such as oncological, transplanted or immunosuppressed patients, just to name a few, as most exposed to the risk of infection from Sars-CoV-2: this is where our study fits, which brought together immunology and cell biology skills”, explains Carmen Gianfrani (Cnr-Ibbc).
The experimentation involved subjects undergoing kidney transplantation and healthy volunteers recruited by Cardarelli, subjected to a blood sample at various times after the second and third booster dose of the mRna vaccine. “The blood cells were analyzed for the immunological reactivity to a large peptide library of both wild-type and Omicron strain Spike protein”, adds Giovanna Del Pozzo (Cnr-Igb), co-coordinator together with Gianfrani of the experimentation carried out at the Cnr. “Following the third vaccination, both in healthy patients and in transplant patients, we found a robust expansion and activation of specific antiviral lymphocytes, with production of interferon-gamma contextually with the increase in the anti-Spike antibody titer – he clarifies – Although the ‘intensity of immunological reactivity against the Omicron variant was lower than the original Wuhan strain, the study demonstrates the effectiveness of the booster dose in inducing specific anti-viral protection”.
The study also demonstrates the importance of a synergy at local level between CNR institutes engaged in biomedical research and hospital structures, in order to provide scientific support to the national institutions responsible for preventing any emerging viral infections or planning new vaccination campaigns, for the protection of the health of the individual and of the community.
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