SARS CoV- 2 vaccination induces antibodies against cardiolipin

Cases of thrombosis have been reported after administration of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines, with controversial results relating to Oxford-AstraZeneca's ChAdOx1-S. Despite such cases being rare, they still raised concerns for their involvement in coagulopathies. Anti-cardiolipin (aCL) IgG antibodies have been linked to venous and arterial thrombosis. The aim was to evaluate the concentration of aCL IgG antibodies in vaccinated and COVID-19 positive individuals using indirect ELISA and commercial sourced calibrators.

The concentration of aCL IgG antibodies was measured in the serum of COVID-19 positive (n = 37), ChAdOx1-S vaccinated (n = 37) and BioNTech Pfizer BNT162b2 vaccinated (n = 42) individuals. Samples from COVID-19 negative, unvaccinated individuals (n = 41) served as controls. The highest percentage of positivity was in the COVID-19 positive group (18.9%). Concerning vaccination, BNT162b2 had the highest percentage of positivity (11.9%) (p = 0.0037). Additionally, aCL concentrations were evaluated at different time points in both vaccinated groups (before, 3 weeks after and 3 months after the second dose). A significant difference in the levels of aCL IgG antibodies over time (p = 0.0391) was observed only in ChAdOx1-S individuals. Our study concluded that levels of aCL, after vaccination with either of the vaccines or following SARS-CoV-2 infection, were not clinically pathogenic for the risk of thrombosis.