Immune responses after COVID-19 vaccination in patients with kidney transplantation and dialysis

A new study reveals the extent to which kidney transplant recipients and people with kidney failure on dialysis respond to immunity (which includes antibody production and T cell activation) to COVID vaccination -19. The findings are published in JASN.

The data is frightening about itself kidney transplant recipients and individuals on dialysis receive sufficient protection against COVID-19 vaccines. To investigate, Dominique Bertrand, MD (University Hospital of Rouen, France) and colleagues examined immune responses after vaccination with the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 mRNA vaccine in 45 kidney transplant recipients and 10 patients subjected to chronic hemodialysis.

After the second dose of vaccine, 88.9% of dialysis patients and only 17.8% of kidney transplant recipients developed antibodies against the virus that causes COVID-19. A specific T cell response to the virus was evident in 100% of dialysis patients and 57.8% of kidney transplant recipients. He immune response seemed to be influenced by immunosuppressive drugs who took kidney transplant recipients, with some medications having a greater effect than others.

“The vaccine appears to be effective in individuals on dialysis, indicating that vaccination should be highly recommended in these patients,” Dr. Bertrand said. “In contrast, the low antibody response observed in kidney transplant recipients is worrying; however, antibodies are not the full spectrum of protection induced by the vaccine. T cell immunity is also likely to be very important”.

The findings may be useful in developing an effective vaccination strategy for kidney transplant recipients.