Impact of Imprinted Immunity Induced by mRNA Vaccination in an Experimental Animal Model

Shigeru Fujita; Keiya Uriu; Lin Pan; Naganori Nao; Koshiro Tabata; Mai Kishimoto; Yukari Itakura; Hirofumi Sawa; Izumi Kida; Tomokazu Tamura; Genotype to Phenotype Japan (G2P-Japan) Consortium; Takasuke Fukuhara; Jumpei Ito; Keita Matsuno; Kei Sato

doi:10.1093/infdis/jiad230

Impact of Imprinted Immunity Induced by mRNA Vaccination in an Experimental Animal Model

J Infect Dis. 2023 Oct 18;228(8):1060-1065. doi: 10.1093/infdis/jiad230.

Authors

Shigeru Fujita^{1

2}, Keiya Uriu^{1

2}, Lin Pan^{1

3}, Naganori Nao^{4

5}, Koshiro Tabata⁶, Mai Kishimoto⁶, Yukari Itakura⁶, Hirofumi Sawa^{4

5

6

7

8}, Izumi Kida⁹, Tomokazu Tamura¹⁰; Genotype to Phenotype Japan (G2P-Japan) Consortium; Takasuke Fukuhara^{10

11

12}, Jumpei Ito¹, Keita Matsuno^{5

7

8

9}, Kei Sato^{1

2

3

13

14

15

16}

Collaborators

Genotype to Phenotype Japan (G2P-Japan) Consortium:
Yu Kaku, Naoko Misawa, Arnon Plianchaisuk, Ziyi Guo, Alfredo A Hinay, Jarel Elgin M Tolentino, Luo Chen, Mai Suganami, Mika Chiba, Ryo Yoshimura, Kyoko Yasuda, Keiko Iida, Naomi Ohsumi, Adam P Strange, Shiho Tanaka, Rigel Suzuki, Saori Suzuki, Hayato Ito, Shinya Tanaka, Masumi Tsuda, Lei Wang, Yoshikata Oda, Zannatul Ferdous, Kenji Shishido, Kenji Sadamasu, Kazuhisa Yoshimura, Hiroyuki Asakura, Isao Yoshida, Mami Nagashima, So Nakagawa, Kotaro Shirakawa, Akifumi Takaori-Kondo, Kayoko Nagata, Ryosuke Nomura, Yoshihito Horisawa, Yusuke Tashiro, Yugo Kawai, Kazuo Takayama, Rina Hashimoto, Sayaka Deguchi, Yukio Watanabe, Ayaka Sakamoto, Naoko Yasuhara, Takao Hashiguchi, Tateki Suzuki, Kanako Kimura, Jiei Sasaki, Yukari Nakajima, Hisano Yajima, Takashi Irie, Ryoko Kawabata, Kaori Tabata, Terumasa Ikeda, Hesham Nasser, Ryo Shimizu, Mst Monira Begum, Michael Jonathan, Yuka Mugita, Otowa Takahashi, Kimiko Ichihara, Takamasa Ueno, Chihiro Motozono, Mako Toyoda, Akatsuki Saito, Maya Shofa, Yuki Shibatani, Tomoko Nishiuchi

Affiliations

¹ Division of Systems Virology, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, The Institute of Medical Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
² Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
³ Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Japan.
⁴ Division of International Research Promotion, International Institute for Zoonosis Control, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan.
⁵ One Health Research Center, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan.
⁶ Division of Molecular Pathobiology, International Institute for Zoonosis Control, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan.
⁷ Institute for Vaccine Research and Development: HU-IVReD, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan.
⁸ International Collaboration Unit, International Institute for Zoonosis Control, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan.
⁹ Division of Risk Analysis and Management, International Institute for Zoonosis Control, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan.
¹⁰ Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan.
¹¹ AMED-CREST, Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED), Tokyo, Japan.
¹² Laboratory of Virus Control, Research Institute for Microbial Diseases, Osaka University, Suita, Japan.
¹³ International Research Center for Infectious Diseases, The Institute of Medical Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
¹⁴ International Vaccine Design Center, The Institute of Medical Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
¹⁵ Collaboration Unit for Infection, Joint Research Center for Human Retrovirus infection, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto, Japan.
¹⁶ CREST, Japan Science and Technology Agency, Kawaguchi, Japan.

Abstract

The emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Omicron variants has led to concerns that ancestral SARS-CoV-2-based vaccines may not be effective against newly emerging Omicron subvariants. The concept of "imprinted immunity" suggests that individuals vaccinated with ancestral virus-based vaccines may not develop effective immunity against newly emerging Omicron subvariants, such as BQ.1.1 and XBB.1. In this study, we investigated this possibility using hamsters. Although natural infection induced effective antiviral immunity, breakthrough infections in hamsters with BQ.1.1 and XBB.1 Omicron subvariants after receiving the 3-dose mRNA-lipid nanoparticle vaccine resulted in only faintly induced humoral immunity, supporting the possibility of imprinted immunity.

Keywords: SARS-CoV-2; imprinted immunity; mRNA vaccine; omicron.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Antibodies, Neutralizing
Antibodies, Viral
COVID-19 Vaccines
COVID-19* / prevention & control
Cricetinae
Humans
Models, Animal
RNA, Messenger / genetics
SARS-CoV-2
Vaccination

Substances

COVID-19 Vaccines
RNA, Messenger
Antibodies, Neutralizing
Antibodies, Viral

Supplementary concepts

SARS-CoV-2 variants