Expansion of cytotoxic tissue-resident CD8 + T cells and CCR6 + CD161 + CD4 + T cells in the nasal mucosa following mRNA COVID-19 vaccination.
Aloysious SsemagandaHuong Mai NguyenFaisal NuhuNaima JahanCatherine M CardSandra KiazykGiulia SeveriniYoav KeynanRuey-Chyi SuHezhao JiBernard AbrenicaPaul J McLarenT Blake BallJared BullardPaul Van CaeseeleDerek SteinLyle R McKinnonPublished in: Nature communications (2022)
Vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 have shown high efficacy in clinical trials, yet a full immunologic characterization of these vaccines, particularly within the human upper respiratory tract, is less well known. Here, we enumerate and phenotype T cells in nasal mucosa and blood using flow cytometry before and after vaccination with the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine (n = 21). Tissue-resident memory (Trm) CD8 + T cells expressing CD69 + CD103 + increase in number ~12 days following the first and second doses, by 0.31 and 0.43 log 10 cells per swab respectively (p = 0.058 and p = 0.009 in adjusted linear mixed models). CD69 + CD103 + CD8 + T cells in the blood decrease post-vaccination. Similar increases in nasal CD8 + CD69 + CD103 - T cells are observed, particularly following the second dose. CD4 + cells co-expressing CCR6 and CD161 are also increased in abundance following both doses. Stimulation of nasal CD8 + T cells with SARS-CoV-2 spike peptides elevates expression of CD107a at 2- and 6-months (p = 0.0096) post second vaccine dose, with a subset of donors also expressing increased cytokines. These data suggest that nasal T cells may be induced and contribute to the protective immunity afforded by this vaccine.
Keyphrases
- sars cov
- chronic rhinosinusitis
- induced apoptosis
- flow cytometry
- respiratory syndrome coronavirus
- respiratory tract
- coronavirus disease
- clinical trial
- cell cycle arrest
- nk cells
- patient safety
- poor prognosis
- dendritic cells
- regulatory t cells
- quality improvement
- machine learning
- immune response
- oxidative stress
- long non coding rna
- endoplasmic reticulum stress
- diabetic rats
- high glucose
- working memory
- cell death
- electronic health record
- open label
- drug induced
- wastewater treatment