Fig. 2: Humoral and cellular SARS-CoV-2 immunity in >80-year-old initial low-/non-responders is rescued after a third dose of the BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine.
a–e, Combined presentation per person of the SARS-CoV-2-spike-specific serum IgG antibody and percentages of SARS-CoV-2-spike-specific CD4 T cells at day 35 in young (a) and aged donors (b). Five individuals (red triangles) mounted only low or no specific antibody and T-cell responses (b), and were vaccinated a third time in week 16 (W16) after the first dose (c–e). SARS-CoV-2-spike-specific serum IgG antibody titre (c), percentages of SARS-CoV-2-spike-specific CD4 T cells (d) and serum titre of 100% virus neutralization (VNT 100) for SARS-CoV-2 wild type (B.1) or its delta variant (B.1.617.2) (e) were measured in week 18 (W18). (f) T-cell response to SEB of the young and older participants measured at the indicated days or weeks after the first dose. Each dot, square and triangle represents one donor. Blue dots: aged responders; red triangles: initial low-/non-responders to the SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein; yellow squares: young donors. Horizontal lines indicate medians, dotted lines indicate the cut-off for antibody positivity at 35.2 BAU ml−1 for SARS-CoV-2-spike-specific IgG (a,c) and 8 (reciprocal titre) for VNT (e). P values determined by one-tailed Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed-rank test (c–e).
