AB1319 DYNAMIC IMMUNE FEATURES REVEALED BY SINGLE-CELL RNA AND SINGLE-CELL TCR/BCR SEQUENCING IN PATIENTS WITH RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS RECEIVING SARS-CoV-2 BOOSTER VACCINATION

Background

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is one of the most common autoimmune diseases and have been shown to be more vulnerable to SARS-CoV-2 infection. Numerous COVID-19 vaccines have demonstrated significant efficacy in reducing SARS-CoV-2 infection and severe cases^[1]. Booster vaccinations played an imoprtant role in maintaining this protection.

Objectives

The use of COVID-19 vaccines is considered to potentially provoke autoimmunity by molecular mimicry, and subsequently trigger flare of underlying autoimmune diseases^{[2, 3]}. Little is known about the delicate immune responses after inactived SARS-CoV-2 booster vaccination in RA.

Methods

Three RA patients who were in remission were prospectively enrolled. Peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) were collected 1 week before and after their inactivated SARS-CoV-2 booster vaccination, respectively. Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) combined with scTCR/BCR-seq analyses were performed using the 10x Genomics Single Cell technique.

Results

Vaccination with booster vaccination only had limited impact on the composition of peripheral immune cells in RA patients, but significantly altered the proportion in myeloid cells, B cells and plasma cells. Transcriptomic changes, which were mostly involved in antibody production as well as B cell activation and differentiation, were observed after booster vaccination. No pro-inflammatory response genes were found to be significantly upregulated in SARS-CoV-2 booster vaccinated RA individuals. Moreover, single-cell TCR/BCR analysis showed a different clone expansion and repertoire diversity after booster vaccination.

Conclusion

Our study provide a comprehensive single cell atlas of the peripheral immune response and TCR/BCR immune repertoire profiles to SARS-CoV-2 booster vaccination in RA patients, which helps us to better understand COVID-19 vaccination and immunization.

References

[1]Bechman K, Dey M, Yates M, Bukhari M, Winthrop K, Galloway J B. The COVID-19 Vaccine Landscape: What a Rheumatologist Needs to Know[J]. J Rheumatol, 2021,48(8):1201-1204. [2]Terracina K A, Tan F K. Flare of rheumatoid arthritis after COVID-19 vaccination[J]. Lancet Rheumatol, 2021,3(7):e469-e470. [3]Fan Y, Geng Y, Wang Y, Deng X, Li G, Zhao J, Ji L, Zhang X, Song Z, Zhang H, Sun X, Gao D, Xie W, Huang H, Hao Y, Zhang Z. Safety and disease flare of autoimmune inflammatory rheumatic diseases: a large real-world survey on inactivated COVID-19 vaccines[J]. Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, 2022,81(3):443-445.

Acknowledgements:

NIL.

Disclosure of Interests

None Declared.