Table 4 Mediation effect estimates for D29 quantitative markers with 95% confidence intervals

From: Neutralizing antibody correlate of protection against severe-critical COVID-19 in the ENSEMBLE single-dose Ad26.COV2.S vaccine efficacy trial

VE against severe-critical COVID-19

 

Non-Marker Mediated VE (95% CI)

Marker Mediated VE (95% CI)

Prop. Mediated (95% CI)

nAb-ID50 (IU50/ml)

0.645 (0.311, 0.817)

0.340 (0.166, 0.477)

0.286 (0.085, 0.487)

Spike IgG (BAU/ml)

0.667 (0.191, 0.863)

0.297 (−0.349, 0.634)

0.243 (−0.214, 0.700)

RBD IgG (BAU/ml)

0.696 (0.257, 0.876)

0.228 (−0.497, 0.602)

0.179 (−0.282, 0.639)

VE against moderate COVID-19

 

Non-Marker Mediated VE (95% CI)

Marker Mediated VE (95% CI)

Prop. Mediated (95% CI)

nAb-ID50 (IU50/ml)

0.196 (−0.048, 0.383)

0.199 (0.017, 0.348)

0.505 (0.008, 1.00)

Spike IgG (BAU/ml)

−0.013 (−0.605, 0.361)

0.365 (0.031, 0.583)

1.03 (−0.022, 2.08)

RBD IgG (BAU/ml)

0.063 (−0.410, 0.377)

0.313 (0.002, 0.527)

0.852 (−0.051, 1.76)

  1. Non-marker mediated VE = VE comparing vaccine vs. placebo with antibody marker set to value if assigned placebo.
  2. Marker-mediated VE = VE in vaccinated comparing observed antibody marker vs. hypothetical marker had the participant received placebo.
  3. Prop. Mediated = fraction of total risk reduction from vaccine attributed to the antibody marker.
  4. BAU, antibody binding units; IU, international units; nAb-ID50, 50% inhibitory dilution neutralizing antibody.
  5. Overall VE (95% CI) against the severe-critical, moderate, and moderate to severe-critical endpoints starting 7 days post-D29 through 220 days post-vaccination was 73.1% (58.7%, 84.1%), 41.3% (28.6%, 51.3%), and 48.6% (38.6%, 57.0%), respectively.
  6. Proportion mediated is not a true proportion in that it can take values outside of [0, 1]. Proportion mediated = 1 is equivalent to Non-marker-mediated VE = 0% and Proportion mediated = 0 is equivalent to Non-marker-mediated VE = Overall VE.