Vaccines prevent serious illness for many people, but the immune protection they produce can differ substantially from one person to another. New research led by Arizona State University offers clues about what may be behind those differences.
The immune system may show signs of how strongly it will react even before vaccination. Researchers at ASU and collaborating institutions examined blood samples from more than 4,000 people, measuring antibodies that recognized 185 antigens. Those immune targets included common viruses and bacteria, along with targets connected to autoimmune diseases.
Artificial intelligence was then used to search for patterns in blood samples taken before and after COVID-19 vaccination. The analysis uncovered antibody signatures that could help separate people who produced strong vaccine responses from those whose responses were weaker.
The findings could eventually contribute to vaccination strategies tailored more closely to an individual's immune system.
"What our study found is that certain biomarkers, when analyzed with AI, can predict who is likely to respond well to a vaccine, even before they receive it. This suggests that some people may be more immune-ready than others," says Joshua LaBaer, who led the study.
LaBaer is executive director of the Biodesign Institute at ASU and director of the Virginia G. Piper Center for Personalized Diagnostics. The project also involved ASU researchers and collaborators from medical and research institutions around the United States.
The study appears in the current issue of the journal Cell Press Blue.
Blood Antibodies May Reveal Vaccine Readiness
Scientists typically evaluate vaccine response after vaccination by measuring whether the immune system generated antibodies against the intended target. In this study, the researchers approached the problem from the opposite direction. They wanted to know whether immune patterns already present in the blood could reveal how someone would respond before receiving a vaccine.
Many factors can influence vaccine response, including age, sex, genetics, previous illnesses and underlying health conditions. People with conditions that compromise the immune system are often more likely to produce weaker responses. However, vaccine outcomes can still vary widely among people who fall into the same general health categories.
The researchers used one of the first approaches to examine a broad antibody "fingerprint" present before vaccination as a measure of immune readiness. While some other prediction strategies depend on genetic testing, this method analyzes antibody patterns in blood, potentially making it easier to translate into clinical practice.
Source: ScienceDaily
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