Annika Bendes (Solna / SE), Sophia Björkander (Stockholm / SE), Maura Kere (Stockholm / SE), Simon Kebede Merid (Stockholm / SE), Alexandra Lövquist (Stockholm / SE), Amelie Vogt (Solna / SE), Anna Gardell (Solna / SE), Leo Dahl (Solna / SE), Olga Mukalova (Stockholm / SE), Olof Beck (Stockholm / SE), Benjamin Murrell (Stockholm / SE), Niclas Roxhed (Stockholm / SE), Erik Melén (Stockholm / SE), Jochen Schwenk (Solna / SE)
Background: The COVID-19 pandemic posed significant challenges to the global community, and particularly to the healthcare systems. In response the virus, new vaccines and technologies were developed and applied to induce, manage, and understand the human immune response to the infection. Despite these efforts, little is known about how pre-pandemic conditions contributed to the immune response to the virus or vaccination.
Materials and Methods: During 2020-2022, we collected three home-sampled dried blood spots (DBS) from ~800 participants from the Swedish BAMSE (Children, Allergy, Milieu, Stockholm, Epidemiology) cohort1. We then employed multi-analyte serology2 and affinity proteomics3 to measure immune response against 38 SARS-CoV-2 antigens and 365 inflammation-related proteins. We used various statistical models with data from pre- and peri-pandemic examinations and laboratory tests to elucidate the the effect of the pandemic on younger adults.
Results: This study aimed to determine the effect of the pandemic on young adults from the general population by using longitudinal and self-collected DBS samples. Univariate and cluster-based analysis of the multi-analyte serology revealed the expected immune response to the virus infection, vaccination and their combination. It also highlighted that time between sampling and vaccination was indicative for the amplitude in immune response, and that a subset of donors remained uninfected and vaccinated. Our proteome analysis of self-sampled DBS revealed protein signatures that were stable over time, variable, or changed in response to vaccination and/or infection.
Conclusion: Our findings demonstrate the technical feasibility of using home-sampled DBS for obtaining insights into immunologic and proteomics response to vaccines and infections. This allowed us to monitor molecular changes and understand how predispositions and acquired conditions contribute to phenotypes of health and disease.
References:
1. Wang G et al. Plasticity of Individual Lung Function States from Childhood to Adulthood. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2023. doi: 10.1164/rccm.202203-0444OC
2. Roxhed N et al. Multianalyte serology in home-sampled blood enables an unbiased assessment of the immune response against SARS-CoV-2. Nat Commun. 2021. doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-23893-4
3. Fredolini C et al. Proteome profiling of home-sampled dried blood spots reveals proteins of SARS-CoV-2 infections. Commun Med (Lond). 2024 doi: 10.1038/s43856-024-00480-4