Factors influencing neutralizing antibody titers elicited by coronavirus disease 2019 vaccines

Yu-An Kung; Sheng-Yu Huang; Chung-Guei Huang; Kuan-Ting Liu; Peng-Nien Huang; Kar-Yee Yu; Shu-Li Yang; Chia-Pei Chen; Ching-Yun Cheng; Ing-Kit Lee; Shu-Min Lin; Han-Pin Chang; Yueh-Te Lin; Yen-Chin Liu; Guang-Wu Chen; Shin-Ru Shih

doi:10.1016/j.micinf.2022.105044

Factors influencing neutralizing antibody titers elicited by coronavirus disease 2019 vaccines

Microbes Infect. 2023 Jan-Feb;25(1-2):105044. doi: 10.1016/j.micinf.2022.105044. Epub 2022 Sep 9.

Authors

Yu-An Kung¹, Sheng-Yu Huang¹, Chung-Guei Huang², Kuan-Ting Liu³, Peng-Nien Huang⁴, Kar-Yee Yu³, Shu-Li Yang⁵, Chia-Pei Chen⁵, Ching-Yun Cheng⁵, Ing-Kit Lee⁶, Shu-Min Lin⁷, Han-Pin Chang¹, Yueh-Te Lin³, Yen-Chin Liu¹, Guang-Wu Chen⁸, Shin-Ru Shih⁹

Affiliations

¹ Research Center for Emerging Viral Infections, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan.
² Department of Laboratory Medicine, Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan, Taiwan; Department of Medical Biotechnology and Laboratory Science, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan.
³ Research Center for Emerging Viral Infections, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan; Graduate Institute of Biomedical Science, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan.
⁴ Research Center for Emerging Viral Infections, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan; Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Department of Pediatrics, Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan, Taiwan.
⁵ Department of Laboratory Medicine, Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan, Taiwan.
⁶ Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan; College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan.
⁷ College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan; Department of Thoracic Medicine, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan, Taiwan; Department of Respiratory Therapy, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan, Taiwan.
⁸ Research Center for Emerging Viral Infections, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan; Department of Laboratory Medicine, Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan, Taiwan; Artificial Intelligence Research Center, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan; Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, College of Engineering, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan. Electronic address: gwchen@mail.cgu.edu.tw.
⁹ Research Center for Emerging Viral Infections, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan; Department of Laboratory Medicine, Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan, Taiwan; Department of Medical Biotechnology and Laboratory Science, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan; Research Center for Chinese Herbal Medicine, Research Center for Food and Cosmetic Safety, And Graduate Institute of Health Industry Technology, College of Human Ecology, Chang Gung University of Science and Technology, Taoyuan, Taiwan. Electronic address: srshih@mail.cgu.edu.tw.

Abstract

The World Health Organization has highlighted the importance of an international standard (IS) for severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) neutralizing antibody titer detection to calibrate diagnostic techniques. We applied an IS to calibrate neutralizing antibody titers (NTs) (international units/mL) in response to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination. Moreover, the association between different factors and neutralizing antibodies was analyzed. A total of 1667 serum samples were collected from participants receiving different COVID-19 vaccines. Antibody titers were determined by a microneutralization assay using live viruses in a biosafety level 3 (BSL-3) laboratory and a commercial serological MeDiPro kit. The titer determined using the MeDiPro kit was highly correlated with the NT determined using live viruses and calibrated using IS. Fever and antipyretic analgesic treatment were related to neutralizing antibody responses in ChAdOx1-S and BNT162b2 vaccinations. Individuals with diabetes showed a low NT elicited by MVC-COV1901. Individuals with hypertension receiving the BNT162b2 vaccine had lower NTs than those without hypertension. Our study provided the international unit (IU) values of NTs in vaccinated individuals for the development of vaccines and implementation of non-inferiority trials. Correlation of the influencing factors with NTs can provide an indicator for selecting COVID-19 vaccines based on personal attributes.

Keywords: COVID-19 vaccines; International standard; Neutralizing antibody titers.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

Antibodies, Neutralizing
Antibodies, Viral
BNT162 Vaccine
COVID-19 Vaccines
COVID-19* / prevention & control
Humans
Hypertension*
SARS-CoV-2
Vaccination

Substances

COVID-19 Vaccines
BNT162 Vaccine
Antibodies, Neutralizing
Antibodies, Viral

Grants and funding

U01 AI151698/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/United States