“Original antigenic sin”: A potential threat beyond the development of booster vaccination against novel SARS-CoV-2 variants

• Published in: Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology 2022-08, Vol.43 (8), p.1091-1092
• Main Authors: Noori, Maryam, Nejadghaderi, Seyed Aria, Rezaei, Nima
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Antibodies; Antigens; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; Dengue fever; Disease transmission; Human papillomavirus; Hypotheses; Immune response; Immune system; Immunization; Influenza; Letter to the Editor; Mutation; Pandemics; Pathogens; Public health; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Vaccines; Vector-borne diseases
• ISSN: 0899-823X; 1559-6834
• DOI: 10.1017/ice.2021.199

Interestingly, a negative correlation was observed between pre-exposure to human β-coronaviruses and induction of antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, mentioning the reduction of de novo humoral immune response and occurrence of OAS in patients with pre-existing immunity against related coronaviruses.11 The impact of OAS in developing vaccines is of paramount interest. Once an individual is immunized against a dengue virus variant, the booster shot for the second variant is unlikely to be successful because it triggers only the original neutralizing antibodies rather than effective antibodies for the new variant.12 This scenario also applied to the human papillomavirus Gardasil 9 vaccine. Individuals who had been vaccinated previously by original Gardasil exhibited lower levels of antibodies against 5 new antigens compared with those who had been never vaccinated for human papillomavirus.13 In the context of influenza infection, Choi et al14 noticed that following the vaccination program against the 2009 pandemic H1N1 influenza, individuals who had already been given a seasonal influenza virus vaccination developed lower antibody response than those who had never been vaccinated against influenza virus. [...]OAS can leave individuals with limited and imprinted memory immune response, and booster vaccination containing novel versions of the pathogen may not provide as much protection.