- Sormani MP, et al. Effect of SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccination in multiple sclerosis patients treated with disease modifying therapies. OP099, ECTRIMS 2021 Virtual Congress, 13¬¬¬—15 October
Disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) in MS patients are associated with an affected immune response to antigens, according to the authors of this study. During the pandemic it is crucial that patients with MS are well protected against possible SARS-CoV-2 infections. A post-SARS-CoV-2 vaccination serological assessment was performed to examine the SARS-CoV-2 antibody response in MS patients treated with DMTs as compared with untreated patients.
The current analysis of this prospective, multicentre cohort study assessed 1,339 patients with MS (untreated n=173, treated with various DMTs n=1,166) who received 2 doses of SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccines (BNT162b2, Pfizer/BioNTech, Inc or mRNA-1273, ModernaTx, Inc). Blood samples were collected before the first dose, and 4 weeks after the second dose. Hereafter, a centralised, blinded serological assessment was performed. Dr Maria Pia Sormani (University of Genoa, Italy) presented the results.
Multivariate analysis revealed decreased antibody levels in patients treated with ocrelizumab (231-fold decrease, P<0.001), fingolimod (32-fold decrease, P<0.001), or rituximab (20-fold decrease, P<0.001) compared with untreated patients. Notably, patients on anti-CD20 therapies developed higher antibody levels when the time to the last administered infusion was longer. Patients vaccinated with the mRNA-1273 vaccine demonstrated significantly higher antibody levels (2.9-fold) compared with BNT162b2 receivers (P<0.001). Dr Sormani argued that a booster with the mRNA-1273 vaccine can be beneficial for patients who displayed low antibody levels.