Longitudinal study on immunologic, lipoproteomic, and inflammatory responses indicates the safety of sequential COVID-19 vaccination
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
COVID-19 vaccines are crucial in reducing SARS-CoV-2 transmission and severe health outcomes. Despite widespread administration, their long-term systemic effects on human metabolism remain inadequately understood. This longitudinal study aims to evaluate IgG responses, 34 cytokines, 112 lipoproteins, and 21 low-molecular-weight metabolites in 33 individuals receiving two to four COVID-19 vaccine doses. Changes in metabolic profiles for the first 16 days post each dose of vaccine, and up to 480 days post-initial dose, were compared to baseline (before vaccination). Additionally, metabolic profiles of vaccinated participants were compared to a reference cohort of unvaccinated individuals without prior exposure to SARS-CoV-2 infection (controls) and SARS-CoV-2 cases. Positive IgG responses were observed in 78.8% (N = 26) of participants after the first dose, reaching 100% with subsequent doses. The most common side effects were localized pain at the injection site and “flu-like” symptoms, reported by > 50% of participants. Systemic side effects, e.g., sore lymph nodes, fatigue, and brain fog, were reported but showed no significant correlations to IgG responses. Transient temporal changes were observed for cytokine IP10 (CXCL10) and glutamic acid around the third vaccine dose. Compared to the reference cohort, 497 vaccinated samples (95.0%) had profiles similar to the controls, while the remaining 26 samples with prior infection exposures were similar to mild cases of SARS-CooV-2 infection. In conclusion, COVID-19 vaccination did not induce lasting changes in inflammatory and metabolic responses, nor did it induce changes similar to mild cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection. This supports the metabolic safety of the vaccine and contributes to increased vaccine confidence.
Key messages
Minimal changes in inflammatory/metabolic markers up to 480 days post-vaccination.
Transient increase in IP10 (CXCL10) and glutamic acid around the third dose.
Post-vaccination IgG response did not alter metabolic profiles like SARS-CoV-2 cases.
Our findings provide insights into the safety of repeated COVID-19 vaccinations.
Key messages
Minimal changes in inflammatory/metabolic markers up to 480 days post-vaccination.
Transient increase in IP10 (CXCL10) and glutamic acid around the third dose.
Post-vaccination IgG response did not alter metabolic profiles like SARS-CoV-2 cases.
Our findings provide insights into the safety of repeated COVID-19 vaccinations.
Date Issued
2025-04-01
Date Acceptance
2025-02-24
Citation
Journal of Molecular Medicine, 2025, 103 (4), pp.421-433
ISSN
0946-2716
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Start Page
421
End Page
433
Journal / Book Title
Journal of Molecular Medicine
Volume
103
Issue
4
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2025 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
License URL
Identifier
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/40074874
PII: 10.1007/s00109-025-02527-y
Subjects
COVID-19 vaccine
IgG responses
Inflammation
Longitudinal study
Metabolomics
SARS-CoV-2 infection
Publication Status
Published
Coverage Spatial
Germany
Date Publish Online
2025-03-12