The Assessment of Serum Levels of TNF-α and INF-γ for both COVID-19 Infected before and after the Vaccination of PfizerBioNTech (a case-control study): A REVIEW

Abstract

 The virus that causes a respiratory disease called coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19). SARS-CoV-2
is a member of a large family of viruses called coronaviruses. These viruses can infect people and
some animals. SARS-CoV-2 was first known to infect people in 2019. Patients with SARS-CoV-2
infection exhibit a range of systemic manifestations that correspond to an intense inflammatory
response and a cytokine storm, or rapid release of pro-inflammatory cytokines. This study aims to
estimate the serum levels of TNF-α and INF-γ among people in Baghdad after one month of receiving
the full Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, SARS-CoV-2 virus infection, and SARS-CoV-2 virus infection
after Pfizer-BioNTech full vaccine respectively. A total of 120 individuals participated in this study
conducted at the College of Medicine / Iraqia University. They were divided into four groups, each
group containing 30 individuals. After one month, the study groups were categorized into PfizerBioNTech (BNT162b2) full vaccination, infected with SARS-CoV-2, SARS-CoV-2 infection after
full Pfizer vaccination, and control. The study showed a significant difference (P value <0.05) in the
TNF-α and INF-γ serum levels of all groups compared to the control and for each group with each
other except for the correlation between the infected non-vaccinated group and the infected
vaccinated group which shows a non-significant difference (P value >0.05). Natural infection with
SARS-CoV-2 with or without Pfizer-BioNTech vaccination can significantly increase the titers of
TNF-α and INF-γ in serum.