Immune correlates of protection by vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia

Abstract

In chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) the efficacy of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination remains unclear as most studies have focused on humoral responses. Here we comprehensively examined humoral and cellular responses to vaccine in CLL patients. Seroconversion was observed in 55.2% of CLL with lower rate and antibody titres in treated patients. T-cell responses were detected in a significant fraction of patients. CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ frequencies were significantly increased independent of serology with higher levels of CD4⁺ cells in patients under a Bruton tyrosine kinase (BTK) or a B-cell lymphoma 2 (BCL-2) inhibitor. Vaccination skewed CD8⁺ cells towards a highly cytotoxic phenotype, more pronounced in seroconverted patients. A high proportion of patients showed spike-specific CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ cells producing interferon gamma (IFNγ) and tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNFα). Patients under a BTK inhibitor showed increased production of IFNγ and TNFα by CD4⁺ cells. Vaccination induced a Th1 polarization reverting the Th2 CLL T-cell profile in the majority of patients with lower IL-4 production in untreated and BTK-inhibitor-treated patients. Such robust T-cell responses may have contributed to remarkable protection against hospitalization and death in a cohort of 540 patients. Combining T-cell metrics with seroprevalence may yield a more accurate measure of population immunity in CLL, providing consequential insights for public health.

Keywords: COVID-19; T-cellular response; Th1 polarization; chronic lymphocytic leukaemia; vaccine.