SARS-CoV-2 vaccine-elicited immune responses in solid organ transplant recipients

Euri Seo; Eui-Cheol Shin; Min Kyung Jung

doi:10.4285/ctr.24.0062

View

Article

View

Clin Transplant Res 2024; 38(4): 247-256

Published online December 31, 2024

https://doi.org/10.4285/ctr.24.0062

SARS-CoV-2 vaccine-elicited immune responses in solid organ transplant recipients

Euri Seo¹, Eui-Cheol Shin^1,2, Min Kyung Jung¹

¹The Center for Viral Immunology, Korea Virus Research Institute, Institute for Basic Science (IBS), Daejeon, Korea
²Graduate School of Medical Science and Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon, Korea

Correspondence to: Min Kyung Jung
The Center for Viral Immunology, Korea Virus Research Institute, Institute for Basic Science (IBS), 55 Expo-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 34126, Korea
E-mail: mkjung@ibs.re.kr

Received: November 20, 2024; Revised: December 18, 2024; Accepted: December 18, 2024

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Go to
Abstract

Solid organ transplant recipients (SOTRs) are considered a high-risk group for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The adaptive immune responses generated by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) vaccination include humoral and cellular immune responses. Most studies on the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine have focused primarily on humoral immunity, but cellular immunity is vital for effectively controlling progression to severe COVID-19. In SOTRs, the vaccine-induced adaptive immune response is significantly attenuated compared to the response in healthy individuals. Nevertheless, vaccinated SOTRs exhibit a reduced rate and severity of SARS-CoV-2 infection. This review aims to provide a concise overview of the current understanding of SARS-CoV-2 vaccine-induced immune responses in SOTRs.

Keywords: Solid organ transplant recipients, SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, Humoral immune responses, Cellular immune responses

HIGHLIGHTS
Adaptive immune responses to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 vaccines are attenuated in solid organ transplant recipients (SOTRs) compared to healthy controls. Additional booster vaccinations have improved vaccine-induced immunity, although SOTRs exhibit lower immune responses than healthy controls.