General practice > Research

CoCo Immunstudy

Immune response in immunocompromised individuals after SARS-CoV-2 vaccination

For some time now, there has been protection against infection with Sars-CoV-2 with new vaccinations. Here, the vaccination is supposed to provoke an immune response in the vaccinated. This immune response may be different due to pre-existing conditions, immunosuppressive medication than in people who do not take such medications or have no pre-existing conditions. Age could also play a role.

Project goals, hypotheses

The aim of the study is to investigate the immune response to infection or vaccination with the new coronavirus. For this purpose, subjects who would like to be vaccinated will be included. These will be tested serologically, i.e. in the blood, for their immune response to SARS-CoV-2. At the same time, we would like to find out how the subjects' social participation is. Specifically, we would like to know whether immunosuppressed persons can reconnect to social activities after vaccination.

Recruitment

We have completed the enrollment of new subjects in the study for the Göttingen study site in summer 2021. The study enrolled people who

are taking immunosuppressive medication (e.g. due to a rheumatic disease [e.g. rheumatoid arthritis], a chronic skin disease [e.g. psoriasis], after an organ transplant, due to a chronic inflammatory bowel disease [e.g. Crohn's disease], due to a chronic neurological disease [e.g. multiple sclerosis]. Exemplary drugs are cortisone, MTX, azathioprine, adalimumab).
or

Are over 85 years of age.
Project partners from rheumatology at the MHH and oncology at the UMG are still recruiting until early fall 2021, but are targeting eligible patients.

Study design and methodology

Non-interventional observational study over 12 months.

Participating institutions

Institute for General Medicine, University Medical Center Göttingen
Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, Hannover Medical School
Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology, University Medical Center Göttingen
Institute for Transplantation Immunology, Hannover Medical School
Department of Computer Science, Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences

Project funding

Parts of the project are funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the funding program "Innovation through Universities and Research Institutions" (ZW7-85152953).