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BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article

Front. Immunol.
Sec. Cancer Immunity and Immunotherapy
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1532947
This article is part of the Research Topic SARS-CoV-2 Vaccines Beyond the Pandemic Era View all 21 articles

Follow-up of Humoral and Cellular Immune Responses After the Third SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine Dose in Multiple Myeloma Patients

Provisionally accepted
Vincenzo Raimondi Vincenzo Raimondi 1Paola Storti Paola Storti 1Rosanna Vescovini Rosanna Vescovini 1Valentina Franceschi Valentina Franceschi 2Denise Toscani Denise Toscani 1Laura Notarfranchi Laura Notarfranchi 1,3Anna Benedetta Dalla Palma Anna Benedetta Dalla Palma 3Nicolas Thomas Iannozzi Nicolas Thomas Iannozzi 1Sergio Minesso Sergio Minesso 2Matteo Scita Matteo Scita 3Oxana Lungu Oxana Lungu 1Mattia Dessena Mattia Dessena 1Gaetano Donofrio Gaetano Donofrio 2*Nicola Giuliani Nicola Giuliani 1,3*
  • 1 Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, Parma, Italy
  • 2 Department of Medical-Veterinary Science, University of Parma, Parma, Emilia-Romagna, Italy
  • 3 Hematology Unit, Department of Onco-Hematology, “Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria di Parma”, Parma, Emilia-Romagna, Italy

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The stability of immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 vaccines, especially concerning the cross-reactive recognition of the Omicron variant, remains incompletely characterized in multiple myeloma (MM) patients. This study evaluated humoral responses in 29 MM patients and cellular responses in a subset of 19 MM patients, specific to Wuhan and Omicron spike proteins, between 16 and 26 weeks following the third vaccine dose. After 26 weeks, we highlight a significant reduction in the neutralizing antibodies to both spikes and the percentages of IFN-γ + CD107a + spike-specific CD8 + T cells. On the other hand, patients who underwent an additional stimulation between the two time points, through either a fourth vaccine dose or breakthrough infection, showed a significant increase in neutralizing antibodies and stable levels of cytotoxic CD8 + T cells. Additionally, those with only three doses experienced a higher rate of breakthrough infections during the 32-week follow-up period. These findings underscore the waning of vaccine-induced immunity over time and may help benefit-risk evaluation in vaccination strategies in MM patients.

    Keywords: Multiple Myeloma, SARS-CoV-2 vaccination, humoral immunity, T cell response, Omicron variant, Breakthrough infection

    Received: 22 Nov 2024; Accepted: 03 Feb 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Raimondi, Storti, Vescovini, Franceschi, Toscani, Notarfranchi, Dalla Palma, Iannozzi, Minesso, Scita, Lungu, Dessena, Donofrio and Giuliani. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Gaetano Donofrio, Department of Medical-Veterinary Science, University of Parma, Parma, 43121, Emilia-Romagna, Italy
    Nicola Giuliani, Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, Parma, Italy

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.