mRNA vaccine-induced T cells respond identically to SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern but differ in longevity and homing properties depending on prior infection status

eLife

Guorui Xie¹  Jason Neidleman¹  Matthew McGregor¹  Nadia R Roan¹  Xiaoyu Luo²  Warner C Greene²  Sulggi A Lee³  Victoria Murray⁴ 

[1] Department or Urology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, United States;Gladstone Institute of Virology, San Francisco, United States;Gladstone Institute of Virology, San Francisco, United States;Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, United States;University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, United States;

关键词: COVID-19;    SARS-CoV-2;    mRNA vaccine;    antigen-specific T cells;    CyTOF;    lymphocyte subsets;    Human;   

DOI  :  10.7554/eLife.72619

来源: eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd

【 摘 要 】

While mRNA vaccines are proving highly efficacious against SARS-CoV-2, it is important to determine how booster doses and prior infection influence the immune defense they elicit, and whether they protect against variants. Focusing on the T cell response, we conducted a longitudinal study of infection-naïve and COVID-19 convalescent donors before vaccination and after their first and second vaccine doses, using a high-parameter CyTOF analysis to phenotype their SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells. Vaccine-elicited spike-specific T cells responded similarly to stimulation by spike epitopes from the ancestral, B.1.1.7 and B.1.351 variant strains, both in terms of cell numbers and phenotypes. In infection-naïve individuals, the second dose boosted the quantity and altered the phenotypic properties of SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells, while in convalescents the second dose changed neither. Spike-specific T cells from convalescent vaccinees differed strikingly from those of infection-naïve vaccinees, with phenotypic features suggesting superior long-term persistence and ability to home to the respiratory tract including the nasopharynx. These results provide reassurance that vaccine-elicited T cells respond robustly to emerging viral variants, confirm that convalescents may not need a second vaccine dose, and suggest that vaccinated convalescents may have more persistent nasopharynx-homing SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells compared to their infection-naïve counterparts.

【 授权许可】

CC BY