Third COVID vaccine seems to be game changer for renal transplant recipients

• Published date: 26 September 2021
• Author: ROSSELLA TERCATIN
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

The study was carried out using the big data platform MDClone, which allowed the medical professionals to consider a very high number of parameters and identified which variables – like use of specific medications – were predictive of a weaker or stronger response.

The paper was published in the journal Transplantation, while the physicians are already working on a follow-up study considering the immune response after the booster, with possibly 86% developing antibodies.

cnxps.cmd.push(function () { cnxps({ playerId: '36af7c51-0caf-4741-9824-2c941fc6c17b' }).render('4c4d856e0e6f4e3d808bbc1715e132f6'); });

>

The preliminary results are very encouraging, Dr. Tamar Hod, the lead author of the study and a nephrologist at Sheba, said.

"Renal transplants are a high-risk population for COVID-19 infection and complications, including prolonged hospitalizations and mortality," she noted. "At the same time, these individuals don't respond well to vaccines. With the coronavirus epidemic, therefore, it was important for us to explore the response to the vaccine."

Patients who undergo renal transplants are prescribed immunosuppressive drugs after the surgery for the remainder of their lives, to prevent their immune system from rejecting the organ they received. This same mechanism interferes with the immune system's ability to deal with illness or to create antibodies from vaccinations.

Hod and her colleagues considered 120 patients who received a transplant.

"Thanks to MDClone, we were able to consider a very high number of clinical data and variables, date of transplant, type of donor, cause of the renal disease and more," Hod said. "In addition, we obtained a huge amount of laboratory data, such as level of blood cells and platelets."

According to the physician, it would not be possible to conduct a study analyzing such a high amount of information manually.

"In addition, we were able to consider the medications and dosage they were taking," Hod remarked.

After two Pfizer shots, only 35% of the transplant recipients developed antibodies, compared to 97.5% of the individuals in the healthy control group.

In addition, the researchers were able to isolate which factors appeared to be associated with a weaker or stronger response.

"For example, we found out that those who were administered the full dosage of a specific...