Robust and prototypical immune responses toward COVID-19 vaccine in First Nations peoples are impacted by comorbidities

• Published in: Nature Immunology
• Main Authors: Zhang, Wuji, Kedzierski, Lukasz, Chua, Brendon Y., Mayo, Mark, Lonzi, Claire, Rigas, Vanessa, Middleton, Bianca F., McQuilten, Hayley A., Rowntree, Louise C., Allen, Lilith F., Purcell, Ruth A., Tan, Hyon-Xhi, Petersen, Jan, Chaurasia, Priyanka, Mordant, Francesca, Pogorelyy, Mikhail V., Minervina, Anastasia A., Crawford, Jeremy Chase, Perkins, Griffith B., Zhang, Eva, Gras, Stephanie, Clemens, E. Bridie, Juno, Jennifer A., Audsley, Jennifer, Khoury, David S., Holmes, Natasha E., Thevarajan, Irani, Subbarao, Kanta, Krammer, Florian, Cheng, Allen C., Davenport, Miles P., Grubor-Bauk, Branka, Coates, P. Toby, Christensen, Britt, Thomas, Paul G., Wheatley, Adam K., Kent, Stephen J., Rossjohn, Jamie, Chung, Amy W., Boffa, John, Miller, Adrian, Lynar, Sarah, Nelson, Jane, Nguyen, Thi H. O., Davies, Jane, Kedzierska, Katherine
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Nature Research 2023
• Subjects: First Nations
• Online Access: https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/160108/; https://doi.org/10.1038/s41590-023-01508-y; https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/160108/1/41590_2023_Article_1508.pdf; https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/160108/2/41590_2023_1508_MOESM1_ESM.pdf

High-risk groups, including Indigenous people, are at risk of severe COVID-19. Here we found that Australian First Nations peoples elicit effective immune responses to COVID-19 BNT162b2 vaccination, including neutralizing antibodies, receptor-binding domain (RBD) antibodies, SARS-CoV-2 spike-specific B cells, and CD4+ and CD8+ T cells. In First Nations participants, RBD IgG antibody titers were correlated with body mass index and negatively correlated with age. Reduced RBD antibodies, spike-specific B cells and follicular helper T cells were found in vaccinated participants with chronic conditions (diabetes, renal disease) and were strongly associated with altered glycosylation of IgG and increased interleukin-18 levels in the plasma. These immune perturbations were also found in non-Indigenous people with comorbidities, indicating that they were related to comorbidities rather than ethnicity. However, our study is of a great importance to First Nations peoples who have disproportionate rates of chronic comorbidities and provides evidence of robust immune responses after COVID-19 vaccination in Indigenous people.