Humoral and cellular immune memory to four COVID-19 vaccines

• Published in: Cell 2022-07, Vol.185 (14), p.2434-2451.e17
• Main Authors: Zhang, Zeli, Mateus, Jose, Coelho, Camila H, Dan, Jennifer M, Moderbacher, Carolyn Rydyznski, Gálvez, Rosa Isela, Cortes, Fernanda H, Grifoni, Alba, Tarke, Alison, Chang, James, Escarrega, E Alexandar, Kim, Christina, Goodwin, Benjamin, Bloom, Nathaniel I, Frazier, April, Weiskopf, Daniela, Sette, Alessandro, Crotty, Shane
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Ad26COVS1; Antibodies, Viral; BNT162 Vaccine; COVID-19 - prevention & control; COVID-19 Vaccines; Humans; Immunity, Humoral; Immunologic Memory; SARS-CoV-2
• ISSN: 0092-8674; 1097-4172; 1097-4172
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2022.05.022

Multiple COVID-19 vaccines, representing diverse vaccine platforms, successfully protect against symptomatic COVID-19 cases and deaths. Head-to-head comparisons of T cell, B cell, and antibody responses to diverse vaccines in humans are likely to be informative for understanding protective immunity against COVID-19, with particular interest in immune memory. Here, SARS-CoV-2-spike-specific immune responses to Moderna mRNA-1273, Pfizer/BioNTech BNT162b2, Janssen Ad26.COV2.S, and Novavax NVX-CoV2373 were examined longitudinally for 6 months 100% of individuals made memory CD4 T cells, with cTfh and CD4-CTL highly represented after mRNA or NVX-CoV2373 vaccination. mRNA vaccines and Ad26.COV2.S induced comparable CD8 T cell frequencies, though only detectable in 60-67% of subjects at 6 months. A differentiating feature of Ad26.COV2.S immunization was a high frequency of CXCR3 memory B cells. mRNA vaccinees had substantial declines in antibodies, while memory T and B cells were comparatively stable. These results may also be relevant for insights against other pathogens.