B lymphocyte activation profile after COVID-19 vaccination in patients kidney transplant recipients under different immunosuppressive regimens

Abstract

Vaccines have played a pivotal role in the preservation of lives, surpassing any other medical intervention in terms of efficacy, durability, and safety. However, it is important to note that kidney transplant recipients often exhibit a heightened susceptibility to infections compared to the general population. Many of these patients remain unprotected against diseases that could be prevented through vaccination. Therefore, optimizing the vaccination process is of paramount importance to maximize the vaccine-induced immune response especially since this response appears to be less effective on this group. Studies have shown that immune response on kidney recipients is reduced because of immunossupression, old age, diabetes, and high levels of immunossupresors. Relates to COVID-19, a study showed that only 51% of kidney recipients developed good antibody production after complete vaccination. The vaccine response dependes on interaction of B and T cells, that is affected by immunossupresion. So, monitoring immune cells, specifically B lymphocytes, is important as a way to evaluate vaccine responses in a non invasive method after kideney transplant. The study aim to evaluate activation profile of b lymphocytes subsets in kidney recipients, under different immunossupression schemes, that were vaccinated agains COVIG-19. The objectives include immunophenotyping b cell subsets, and analyze the frequency and absolute number of this subsets after cell culture.