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Background Methods Results Conclusions Recently, it has been questioned whether vaccination of patients with inflammatory (auto)immune diseases under anti‐tumor necrosis factor (TNF) treatment leads to impaired vaccine‐induced immune responses and protection against breakthrough infections. However, the effects of TNF blockade on short‐ and long‐term immune responses after repeated vaccination remain unclear. Vaccination studies have shown that initial short‐term IgG antibodies (Abs) carry highly galactosylated and sialylated Fc glycans, whilst long‐term IgG Abs have low levels of galactosylation and sialylation and are most likely generated by long‐lived plasma cells (PCs) derived primarily from the germinal center (GC) response. Thus, IgG Fc glycosylation patterns may be applicable to distinguish short‐ and long‐term vaccine responses after repeated vaccination under the influence of anti‐TNF treatment.We used COVID‐19 vaccination as a model to investigate vaccine‐induced IgG subclass levels and Fc glycosylation patterns, B cell subsets, and effector functions of short‐ and long‐term Ab responses after up to three vaccinations in patients on anti‐TNF or other immunosuppressive treatments and in healthy individuals. Using TriNetX, a global healthcare database, we determined the risk of SARS‐CoV‐2 breakthrough infections in vaccinated patients treated with anti‐TNF or other immunosuppressive drugs.Anti‐TNF treatment reduced the long‐term abundance of all anti‐S IgG subclasses with low levels of galactosylation and sialylation. Re‐activation of potential memory B cells initially generated highly galactosylated and sialylated IgG antibodies, which were progressively reduced after each booster dose in anti‐TNF‐treated patients, especially in the elderly. The reduced short‐ and long‐term IgG (1) levels in anti‐TNF‐treated patients correlated with diminished functional activity and an increased risk for the development of COVID‐19.The data suggest that anti‐TNF treatment reduces both GC‐dependent long‐lived PCs and GC‐dependent memory B cell‐derived short‐lived PCs, hence both the long‐ and short‐term IgG subclass responses, respectively, after repeated vaccination. We propose that anti‐TNF therapy, especially in the elderly, reduces the benefit of booster vaccination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The new types of mRNA-containing lipid nanoparticle vaccines BNT162b2 and mRNA-1273 and the adenovirus-based vaccine AZD1222 were developed against SARS-CoV-2 and code for its spike (S) protein. Several studies have investigated short-term antibody (Ab) responses after vaccination. Objective: However, the impact of these new vaccine formats with unclear effects on the long-term Ab response - including isotype, subclass, and their type of Fc glycosylation - is less explored. Methods: Here, we analyzed anti-S Ab responses in blood serum and the saliva of SARS-CoV-2 naïve and non-hospitalized pre-infected subjects upon two vaccinations with different mRNA- and adenovirus-based vaccine combinations up to day 270. Results: We show that the initially high mRNA vaccine-induced blood and salivary anti-S IgG levels, particularly IgG1, markedly decrease over time and approach the lower levels induced with the adenovirus-based vaccine. All three vaccines induced, contrary to the short-term anti-S IgG1 response with high sialylation and galactosylation levels, a long-term anti-S IgG1 response that was characterized by low sialylation and galactosylation with the latter being even below the corresponding total IgG1 galactosylation level. Instead, the mRNA, but not the adenovirus-based vaccines induced long-term IgG4 responses - the IgG subclass with inhibitory effector functions. Furthermore, salivary anti-S IgA levels were lower and decreased faster in naïve as compared to preinfected vaccinees. Predictively, age correlated with lower long-term anti-S IgG titers for the mRNA vaccines. Furthermore, higher total IgG1 galactosylation, sialylation, and bisection levels correlated with higher longterm anti-S IgG1 sialylation, galactosylation, and bisection levels, respectively, for all vaccine combinations. Conclusion: In summary, the study suggests a comparable "adjuvant" potential of the newly developed vaccines on the anti-S IgG Fc glycosylation, as reflected in relatively low long-term anti-S IgG1 galactosylation levels generated by the long-lived plasma cell pool, whose induction might be driven by a recently described TH1-driven B cell response for all three vaccines. Instead, repeated immunization of naïve individuals with the mRNA vaccines increased the proportion of the IgG4 subclass over time which might influence the longterm Ab effector functions. Taken together, these data shed light on these novel vaccine formats and might have potential implications for their longterm efficacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The microbially-derived short-chain fatty acid butyrate is a central inhibitor of inflammatory innate and adaptive immune responses. Emerging evidence suggests that butyrate induces differentiation of IL-10-producing (IL-10+) regulatory B cells. However, the underlying mechanisms of butyrate-driven modulation of B cell differentiation are not fully defined. Given the dominant role of regulatory plasma cells (PCs) as the main source of anti-inflammatory cytokines including IL-10 and the observation that butyrate also induces the differentiation of PCs, we here investigated the effect of the microbial metabolite butyrate on the induction of regulatory IL-10+ PCs and underlying mechanisms. Here we show that butyrate induces the differentiation of IL-10+IgM+ PCs. Ex vivo, butyrate, but hardly propionate, another microbially-derived short-chain fatty acid, induced the differentiation of IL-10+IgM+ CD138high PCs from isolated splenic murine B cells. In vivo, administration of butyrate via drinking water or by daily intraperitoneal injection increased the number of IL-10+IgM+ CD138high PCs in the spleens of Ovalbumin (Ova)/complete Freund's adjuvant-immunized mice. The induction of these regulatory PCs was associated with an increase of anti-Ova IgM, but a reduction of anti-Ova class-switched pathogenic IgG2b serum antibodies. Based on the knowledge that butyrate inhibits histone deacetylases (HDACs) thereby increasing histone acetylation, we identified here that HDAC3 inhibition was sufficient to induce PC differentiation and IL-10+ expression. Furthermore, reduced mitochondrial superoxide levels following butyrate treatment and HDAC3 inhibition were necessary for PC differentiation, but not IL-10 expression. In summary, the microbial metabolite butyrate promotes the differentiation of IgM+ PCs and their expression of IL-10. HDAC3 inhibition may be involved as an underlying pathway for both PC differentiation and IL-10 expression, while reduced mitochondrial superoxide levels are crucial only for PC differentiation. The induction of regulatory IL-10+IgM+ PCs and the inhibition of class switching to antigen-specific pathogenic IgG subclasses might represent important pathways of butyrate to limit inflammation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]