Rui Alves, director of the Nephrology Service of the Local Health Unit of Coimbra (ULS de Coimbra), and his team author one of the 10 most cited articles in 2022-23 in the renowned international scientific journal Clinical Transplantation.
The article, whose title is “The type of SARS-CoV-2 vaccine influences serological response in kidney transplant recipients”, presents data on the immune reaction to vaccination of solid organ recipients.
According to Rui Alves, “vaccination is a promising strategy to control the ongoing pandemic, however, solid organ recipients tend to develop a weaker immune response to vaccination”.
The expert states that the conclusion results from a study in which “anti-SARS-CoV-2 spike antibody titers were measured two to four weeks after the end of vaccination in 131 kidney transplant patients without previous infection”. “Demographic, clinical and laboratory parameters were analyzed to identify which factors contributed to seroconversion.
The factors that influenced seroconversion, which occurred in 76 patients (58% of the total number of patients analyzed), were longer post-transplant time, immunosuppression regimen without anti-proliferative drugs and vaccination with mRNA vaccines”, emphasizes the doctor, concluding: “Patients who received mRNA vaccines had significantly higher rates of seroconversion compared to adenovirus vector vaccines (67% vs 33%, P < 0.001) and higher anti-spike IgG titers.”
The results demonstrated through this study “reinforce the need to discuss the vaccination strategy for these patients, including a third dose with the mRNA vaccine”.
Alexandre Lourenço, president of the Board of Directors of ULS in Coimbra, states that “it is a source of pride and satisfaction to see that excellence in healthcare is associated with the ability to develop research”.
The person in charge also highlights that “ULS Coimbra always seeks to support the research and academic careers of its health professionals, especially because innovation, research and the transfer of knowledge are part of the DNA of ULS Coimbra”.
The article ““The type of SARS-CoV-2 vaccine influences serological response in kidney transplant recipients” is authored by a group of nephrologists from the Nephrology Service, working at the Renal Transplant Unit at ULS in Coimbra.
