AUTHOR=Natori Yoichiro , Martin Eric , Mattiazzi Adela , Arosemena Leopoldo , Ortigosa-Goggins Mariella , Shobana Sivan , Roth David , Kupin Warren Lee , Burke George William , Ciancio Gaetano , Morsi Mahmoud , Phancao Anita , Munagala Mrudula R. , Butrous Hoda , Manickavel Suresh , Sinha Neeraj , Sota Katherine , Pallikkuth Suresh , Bini Julia , Simkins Jacques , Anjan Shweta , Vianna Rodrigo M. , Guerra Giselle 

TITLE=A Pilot Single-Blinded, Randomized, Controlled Trial Comparing BNT162b2 vs. JNJ-78436735 Vaccine as the Third Dose After Two Doses of BNT162b2 Vaccine in Solid Organ Transplant Recipients

JOURNAL=Transplant International

VOLUME=Volume 36 - 2023

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontierspartnerships.org/journals/transplant-international/articles/10.3389/ti.2023.10938

DOI=10.3389/ti.2023.10938

ISSN=1432-2277

ABSTRACT=Due to immunosuppressive medication, the immunogenicity after vaccination in solid organ transplant (SOT) recipient is suboptimal. Several strategies were studied to improve the efficacy of vaccination in this patient cohort including booster dosing. This current patient-blinded, single center, randomized controlled trial compared BNT162b2 vs JNJ-78436735 vaccine as the third dose after two doses of BNT162b2 vaccine. We included adult SOT recipients with functional graft who had received two doses of BNT162b2 vaccine. Participants were randomly assigned to receive either BNT162b2 or JNJ-78436735 in one-to-one ratio. Primary outcome was SARS-CoV-2 IgG positivity at one month after the third dose. Sixty SOT recipients, including 36 kidney, 12 liver, 2 lung, 3 heart, and 5 combined transplants, were enrolled, and 57 recipients were analyzed per protocol. There were no statistically significant differences between the two vaccine protocols for immunogenicity (83.3% vs 85.2% for BNT162b2 and JNJ-78436735, respectively, p=0.85). Comparison of the geometric mean titer demonstrated a higher trend with BNT162b2 (p=0.09). In this pilot randomized controlled trial, even there was no statistically significant difference in immunogenicity between two vaccine protocols, the mix and match method showed relatively lower geometric mean titer. Further studies need to be conducted to determine duration of this immunogenicity.