SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in rituximab-treated patients: B cells promote humoral immune responses in the presence of T-cell-mediated immunity.
Daniel MrakSelma TobudicMaximilian KoblischkeMarianne GraningerHelga RadnerDaniela SieghartPhilipp HoferThomas PerkmannHelmuth HaslacherRenate ThalhammerStefan WinklerStephan BlümlKarin StiasnyJudith H AberleJosef S SmolenLeonhard X HeinzDaniel AletahaMichael Markus BonelliPublished in: Annals of the rheumatic diseases (2021)
The data suggest that vaccination can induce SARS-CoV-2-specific antibodies in RTX-treated patients, once peripheral B cells at least partially repopulate. Moreover, SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells that evolved in more than half of the vaccinated patients may exert protective effects independent of humoral immune responses.