• Roberta Angelico, Francesca Romano, Luigi Coppola, Marco Materazzo, Domiziana Pedini, Maria Sara Santicchia, Roberto Cacciola, Luca Toti, Loredana Sarmati, and Giuseppe Tisone.
• HPB and Transplant Unit, Department of Surgical Sciences, University of Rome Tor Vergata, 00133 Rome, Italy.
• Medicina (Kaunas). 2023 Nov 30; 59 (12).

AbstractBackground and Objectives: Underpowered immune response to vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 was observed in solid organ transplant (SOT) recipients. A novel combination of monoclonal antibodies tixagevimab-cilgavimab (TGM/CGM) received authorization as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in those with reduced response to vaccine. We aimed to evaluate the response rate to COVID-19 vaccination in kidney transplant (KT), compared to liver transplant (LT) recipients, and the efficacy and safety of PrEP with TGM/CGM. Material and Methods: Between March and November 2022, adult KT and LT recipients who had completed the vaccination schedule (3 doses) were tested for anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies titer. SOT recipients with anti-SARS-CoV-2 titer ≥ 100 IU/mL were considered protected against infection, while those with titer < 100 UI/mL were defined non-protected. Patients with inadequate response were invited to PrEP. Results: In total, 306 patients were enrolled [KT:197 (64.4%), LT:109 (35.6%)]. After the complete scheme of vaccination, 246 (80.3%) patients developed a protective titer, while 60 (19.6%) did not have a protective titer. KT recipients had a lower rate of protective anti-COVID-19 titer compared to LT patients [149 (75.6%) vs. 97 (89.0%), p = 0.004]. Recipients with non-protective anti-COVID-19 titer received mainly tacrolimus-based regimen associated with mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) (70%) e steroids (46.7%) as maintenance immunosuppression, while those treated with everolimus were associated with higher protective titer. Of 35 (58.3%) patients who received PrEP, within 12 months, 6 (17.1%) (all KT) developed pauci-symptomatic COVID-19 disease, while 15/25 (60%) of non-responders, who did not receive the prophylaxis, developed COVID-19 disease. After PrEP, hospitalization rate was lower (2.8% vs. 16%), and no adverse events, neither graft loss nor rejection, were observed. Conclusions: Despite complete COVID-19 vaccination, SOT recipients might be not protected from the SARS-CoV-2 infection, especially after KT. In non-protected SOT patients, the subsequent pre-exposure prophylaxis with combination of monoclonal antibodies (TGM/CGM) might be an efficacy and safe strategy to prevent COVID-19 severe disease and hospitalization.

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