On Friday 27 March at 14:30, Fredrikke Dam Larsen defends her PhD dissertation entitled “Immunogenicity of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in immunocompromised patients”. 

The project included studies of patients with hematological diseases, solid organ transplants, HIV, common variable immunodeficiency, and immune-mediated inflammatory diseases receiving immunosuppressive treatment. Reduced vaccine responses were most frequently observed among transplant recipients, patients with CVID or chronic lymphocytic leukamia and in patients treated with anti-CD20 antibodies or fingolimod. In contrast, patients with HIV mounted vaccine responses comparable to those observed in healthy individuals.

Although clear differences were observed between patient groups, vaccine responses varied substantially between individuals within the same disease groups receiving similar treatments. In an exploratory analysis, we therefore examined whether patterns in immune-cell distributions could help explain this variation. The findings suggested that poor vaccine responses were not driven by a single immune-cell population but were associated with broader immune profiles reflecting chronic immune activation and reduced memory B-cell compartments.

These findings contribute to a better understanding of vaccine responses in immunocompromised patients and may help identify patients who require alternative vaccination strategies or additional protective measures.

The summary is written by the PhD student.

The defence is public and takes place in Auditorium G206-142, Aarhus University Hospital. Please see the press release for more information. 

Contact

PhD student Frederikke Dam Larsen
Mail: frelarse@rm.dk 

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