Assessment of the Immune Response to SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 Vaccination in Patients With Sarcoidosis

Introduction, Hypothesis and Specific Aims

People with sarcoidosis, particularly those with significant lung and/or cardiac involvement, who become infected with SARS-CoV-2 are likely at increased risk of complications or death from COVID-19. While SARS-CoV-2 vaccines are highly efficacious in preventing COVID-19 in the general population, whether vaccination provides similar protection in people with sarcoidosis is unknown. The investigators hypothesize that people with sarcoidosis develop less robust antibody and cluster of differentiation 4 (CD4)+ T cell-mediated immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 vaccination than healthy individuals, both as a consequence of the disease itself and as a result of treatment with immunosuppressive medications.

Specific Aim 1. Determine blood anti-SARS-CoV-2 spike protein IgG antibody levels following SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in individuals with sarcoidosis treated and not treated with immunosuppressive medications, in comparison to age- and sex-matched healthy controls.

Specific Aim 2. Determine levels of SARS-CoV-2-specific activation of peripheral blood CD4+ T cells following SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in individuals with sarcoidosis treated and not treated with immunosuppressive medications, in comparison to age- and sex-matched healthy controls.

The results of this investigation will address a critical gap in the understanding of vaccine responses in people with sarcoidosis. In addition, the study will contribute knowledge needed to inform clinicians' recommendations to sarcoidosis patients regarding risk of infection after SARS-CoV-2 vaccination, and will help lay the basis for future trials to evaluate the possible benefit of vaccine boosters in individuals with poor immune responses to initial vaccination.