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. 2024 Aug 10;10(16):e36116.
doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e36116. eCollection 2024 Aug 30.

Vaccine-induced humoral response of BNT162b2 and mRNA-1273 against BA.1, BA.5, and XBB.1.5. (sub)variants 6 months after a homologous booster: is immunogenicity equivalent?

Julien Favresse  1   2 , Marie Tré-Hardy  1   3   4 , Constant Gillot  1 , Roberto Cupaiolo  3 , Alain Wilmet  3 , Ingrid Beukinga  3 , Laurent Blairon  3 , Jean-Louis Bayart  5 , Mélanie Closset  6 , Loris Wauthier  2 , Julien Cabo  2 , Clara David  7 , Marc Elsen  2 , Jean-Michel Dogné  1 , Jonathan Douxfils  1   7   8
Affiliations

Vaccine-induced humoral response of BNT162b2 and mRNA-1273 against BA.1, BA.5, and XBB.1.5. (sub)variants 6 months after a homologous booster: is immunogenicity equivalent?

Julien Favresse et al. Heliyon. .

Abstract

Introduction: Some studies suggest that the monovalent mRNA-1273 vaccine is more effective than BNT162b2 in producing higher levels of antibodies. However, limited data are available, and the methods used are not directly comparable.

Material and methods: Blood samples were obtained before the booster (third dose) and after 14, 90, and 180 days in two similar cohorts who received the original BNT162b2 or mRNA-1273 vaccine designed to _target wild type SARS-CoV-2. The aim of our study is to compare their effectiveness by assessing the levels of binding and neutralizing antibodies specifically against each of the BA.1 variant, BA.5 variant, and the XBB.1.5 subvariant.

Results: Once the peak was reached after two weeks, a drastic decline in binding and neutralizing antibodies was observed up to 6 months after the homologous booster administration. The humoral response was however more sustained with the mRNA-1273 booster, with half-lives of 167, 55, and 48 days for binding, BA.1, and BA.5 neutralizing antibodies compared to 144, 30, and 29 days for the BNT162b2 booster, respectively. Compared to the BA.1 variant, the neutralizing capacity was significantly decreased at 6 months with the BA.5 variant (fold-decrease: 1.67 to 3.20) and the XBB.1.5. subvariant (fold-decrease: 2.86 to 5.48).

Conclusion: Although the decrease in the humoral response was observed with both mRNA vaccines over time, a more sustained response was observed with the mRNA-1273 vaccine. Moreover, the emergence of Omicron-based variants causes a reduced neutralizing capacity, notably with the XBB.1.5. subvariant. The administration of subsequent boosters would therefore be needed to restore a sufficiently high neutralizing response.

Keywords: BNT162b2; Humoral response; Omicron; SARS-CoV-2; Vaccine booster; mRNA-1273.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Comparison of vaccine administration and immune response timelines with the global SARS-CoV-2 variants distribution.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Kinetics of the humoral response (neutralizing (A) and binding (B) antibodies) after the homologous booster (BNT162b2 versus mRNA-1273). The dotted line represents the positivity cut‐off for neutralizing antibodies (dilution titer of 1:20). Mean and 95 % confidence intervals (95 % CI) are used to present the data.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Comparison of the neutralizing capacity against the BA.1, BA.5, and XBB.1.5 Omicron variants in a population of 20 healthy-volunteers 6 months after having received the homologous booster. The dotted line represents the positivity cut‐off for neutralizing antibodies (dilution titer of 1:20). A. BNT162b2. B. mRNA-1273. Mean and 95 % confidence intervals 95 % CI are used to present the data.
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