An immunogenetic approach to guide the need for booster shots and combat immune failure in SARS-CoV-2 vaccine response

疫苗接种在帮助控制当前COVID-19疫情方面取得了巨大成功。然而，有些人对疫苗的保护较少，因为他们的免疫系统无法对疫苗产生强烈的反应。这种情况更常见于老年人，当你有其他疾病或免疫系统因其他原因而减弱时。然而，我们对这种情况发生的原因的了解是不完整的，我们迫切需要获得这种理解，以便更好地将加强疫苗接种用于那些最受益的人。为了解决这个问题，牛津大学，英国国家统计局，英国公共卫生局，Pirbright研究所和爱丁堡大学的研究人员正在调查遗传因素是否参与决定个体的反应，并研究我们对疫苗接种的免疫反应的性质。这项工作方案汇集了遗传学家、免疫学家、病毒学家、流行病学家、公共卫生专家和临床试验专家组成一个协作小组。研究人员将邀请全国COVID-19感染调查的参与者以及那些在临床试验中接种过牛津-阿斯利康疫苗的人参加这项研究。遗传分析将包括查看DNA中的单字母差异以及感染或其他环境暴露后可能对DNA序列发生的化学修饰。免疫学分析将集中在我们对病毒的抗体反应，杀死病毒的能力，我们将测试加强疫苗接种是否有助于这些个体的反应。研究设计和交付将涉及患者和参与者代表，研究结果将传达给非专业观众和公众。研究结果将用于为疫苗政策和推广提供信息。

Vaccination has been highly successful in helping to control the current COVID-19 pandemic. However some individuals have less protection from vaccination as their immune system fails to generate a strong response to the vaccine. This occurs more commonly in older people, when you have other illnesses or a weakened immune system for other reasons. However our knowledge of why this happens is incomplete and we urgently need to gain this understanding to better target use of booster vaccinations to those who will most benefit. To address this, researchers at the University of Oxford, the Office for National Statistics, Public Health England, The Pirbright Institute and the University of Edinburgh are investigating whether inherited factors are involved in determining an individual's response, and studying the nature of our immune response to vaccination in poor responder individuals. This programme of work brings together geneticists, immunologists, virologists, epidemiologists, public health experts and clinical trialists in a collaborative team. The researchers will be inviting participants in the National COVID-19 Infection Survey to take part in the research as well as those who have had the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine in clinical trials. The genetic analysis will include looking at single letter differences in the DNA as well as the chemical modifications that can occur to the DNA sequence following infection or other environmental exposures. The immunological analysis will focus on our antibody response to the virus, ability to kill the virus and we will test if a booster vaccination helps these individual's response. The research design and delivery will involve patient and participant representatives, and findings will be communicated to lay audiences and the public. The results of the study will be used to inform vaccine policy and rollout.