Vaccine Responses Vary Even Among Immunosuppressed Individuals

Many studies have looked at how our immune system responds to a vaccine by measuring whether the immune system created antibodies against the vaccine. However, a new study finds that already circulating antibodies could hold clues into how well the immune system will respond to a future vaccine. 

This study involved 2,445 healthy individuals and 1,644 immunosuppressed individuals. The researchers used blood samples from the participants to measure antibodies against almost 200 antigens including those from common infections and autoantigens associated with autoimmune diseases. They then compared the levels of these antibodies to how well the study participants responded to the COVID-19 vaccine.

This study shows that while several immunosuppressed groups have a weaker response to the COVID-19 vaccination, being immunosuppressed alone doesn’t necessarily dictate the immune response. Some participants who were immunosuppressed had strong responses to the COVID-19 vaccine and still, 5-6% of healthy individuals mounted a weak response.

This work found that pre-existing antibodies to common microbes could predict the vaccine response in both healthy and immunosuppressed participants. These pre-existing antimicrobial antibodies could be used in the future to predict vaccine responses before vaccination and help guide vaccination strategies on the individual level.  

Citation

Song L, Park JG, Qiu J, et al. (2026) Pre-vaccine sentinel antibodies predict blunted vaccine responses. Cell Press Blue 100088. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpblue.2026.100088