Natural Killer Cell-Mediated Antibody-Dependent Cellular Cytotoxicity Against SARS-CoV-2 After Natural Infection Is More Potent Than After Vaccination

Gereon J Rieke; Kathrin van Bremen; Jenny Bischoff; Michael ToVinh; Malte B Monin; Stefan Schlabe; Jan Raabe; Kim M Kaiser; Claudia Finnemann; Alexandru Odainic; Anushka Kudaliyanage; Eicke Latz; Christian P Strassburg; Christoph Boesecke; Susanne V Schmidt; Benjamin Krämer; Jürgen K Rockstroh; Jacob Nattermann

doi:10.1093/infdis/jiac060

Natural Killer Cell-Mediated Antibody-Dependent Cellular Cytotoxicity Against SARS-CoV-2 After Natural Infection Is More Potent Than After Vaccination

J Infect Dis. 2022 May 16;225(10):1688-1693. doi: 10.1093/infdis/jiac060.

Authors

Gereon J Rieke¹, Kathrin van Bremen¹, Jenny Bischoff¹, Michael ToVinh¹, Malte B Monin¹, Stefan Schlabe^{1

2}, Jan Raabe¹, Kim M Kaiser¹, Claudia Finnemann¹, Alexandru Odainic^{3

4}, Anushka Kudaliyanage³, Eicke Latz³, Christian P Strassburg¹, Christoph Boesecke^{1

2}, Susanne V Schmidt³, Benjamin Krämer¹, Jürgen K Rockstroh^{1

2}, Jacob Nattermann^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Internal Medicine I, University Hospital Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
² German Centre for Infection Research, Partner-site Cologne-Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
³ Institute of Innate Immunity, Medical Faculty, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
⁴ Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Abstract

We compared the ability of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) spike-specific antibodies to induce natural killer cell-mediated antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) in patients with natural infection and vaccinated persons. Analyzing plasma samples from 39 coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients and 11 vaccinated individuals, significant induction of ADCC could be observed over a period of more than 3 months in both vaccinated and recovered individuals. Although plasma antibody concentrations were lower in recovered patients, we found antibodies elicited by natural infection induced a significantly stronger ADCC response compared to those induced by vaccination, which may affect protection conferred by vaccination.

Keywords: ADCC; COVID-19; NK cell; mRNA vaccine.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Antibodies, Neutralizing
Antibodies, Viral
Antibody-Dependent Cell Cytotoxicity
COVID-19* / prevention & control
Humans
Killer Cells, Natural
SARS-CoV-2*
Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus
Vaccination

Substances

Antibodies, Neutralizing
Antibodies, Viral
Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus
spike protein, SARS-CoV-2