Cellular and Humoral Immune Responses in Anti-N Seropositive and Seronegative Vaccinated Participants: Insights from the Bialystok PLUS Study

Le résumé fourni par la source

Background: In the post-pandemic era, SARS-CoV-2 immunity is increasingly shaped by vaccination and previous infection. Understanding the relationship between cellular and humoral immune responses is important for characterizing immunity in vaccinated populations. Methods: This study included 629 participants from the Bialystok PLUS cohort, stratified according to anti-N serostatus into anti-N-seronegative (n = 159) and anti-N-seropositive (n = 470) groups. Cellular immune response measurements were available for a subset of 246 participants. Humoral response was assessed using anti-S and anti-N antibodies, while cellular response (OC) was evaluated by interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) release following SARS-CoV-2 antigen stimulation. Group differences were assessed using the Mann–Whitney U test, and associations were evaluated using Spearman’s rank correlations with Benjamini–Hochberg correction. Multivariable linear regression was used to assess the association between anti-N serostatus and cellular response after adjustment for age and sex. Results: Anti-N-seropositive participants had significantly higher cellular responses than anti-N-seronegative participants (median 1752.3 vs. 771.1; p < 0.001). After adjustment for age and sex, anti-N seropositivity remained significantly associated with higher cellular response, corresponding to a 3.57-fold higher geometric mean of OC + 1 (95% CI: 1.90–6.73; p < 0.001). Anti-S antibody levels showed moderate positive correlations with cellular response in both anti-N-seronegative and anti-N-seropositive participants (ρ = 0.45 and ρ = 0.37, respectively), and the association remained significant after adjustment for age, sex, and anti-N serostatus. No significant associations were observed between cellular response and anti-N antibody levels or routine laboratory parameters after correction for multiple comparisons. Conclusions: Anti-N seropositivity was associated with higher SARS-CoV-2-specific cellular immune response among vaccinated participants, and this association remained significant after adjustment for age and sex. The moderate association between anti-S antibody levels and cellular response suggests that humoral and cellular measures provide related but complementary information on SARS-CoV-2-specific immunity. Routine laboratory parameters were not significantly associated with cellular immune response in this cohort.

Ce résumé expose les affirmations des auteurs. BNTIC ne l’interprète pas comme une validation indépendante des résultats.