Humoral and cellular immune memory to four COVID-19 vaccines

• Published in: Cell Vol. 185; no. 14; pp. 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: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 07.07.2022
• Subjects: Ad26COVS1; antibodies; Antibodies, Viral; B-lymphocytes; BNT162 Vaccine; COVID-19 - prevention & control; COVID-19 infection; COVID-19 Vaccines; Humans; Immunity, Humoral; Immunologic Memory; memory; SARS-CoV-2; vaccination; vaccines; SARS-COV2; COVID-19 vaccine; humoral immunity; immune memory; cellular immunity
• 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.