Comparison of the Development of SARS-Coronavirus-2-Specific Cellular Immunity, and Central Memory CD4+ T-Cell Responses Following Infection versus Vaccination
Memory T-cell responses following infection with coronaviruses are reportedly long-lived and provide long-term protection against severe disease. Whether vaccination induces similar long-lived responses is not yet clear since, to date, there are limited data comparing memory CD4+ T-cell responses in...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2021-12-01
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| Series: | Vaccines |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-393X/9/12/1439 |
| _version_ | 1797500045989249024 |
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| author | Kevin M. Dennehy Eva Löll Christine Dhillon Johanna-Maria Classen Tobias D. Warm Lukas Schuierer Alexander Hyhlik-Dürr Christoph Römmele Yvonne Gosslau Elisabeth Kling Reinhard Hoffmann |
| author_facet | Kevin M. Dennehy Eva Löll Christine Dhillon Johanna-Maria Classen Tobias D. Warm Lukas Schuierer Alexander Hyhlik-Dürr Christoph Römmele Yvonne Gosslau Elisabeth Kling Reinhard Hoffmann |
| author_sort | Kevin M. Dennehy |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Memory T-cell responses following infection with coronaviruses are reportedly long-lived and provide long-term protection against severe disease. Whether vaccination induces similar long-lived responses is not yet clear since, to date, there are limited data comparing memory CD4+ T-cell responses induced after SARS-CoV-2 infection versus following vaccination with BioNTech/Pfizer BNT162b2. We compared T-cell immune responses over time after infection or vaccination using ELISpot, and memory CD4+ T-cell responses three months after infection/vaccination using activation-induced marker flow cytometric assays. Levels of cytokine-producing T-cells were remarkably stable between three and twelve months after infection, and were comparable to IFNγ+ and IFNγ+IL-2+ T-cell responses but lower than IL-2+ T-cell responses at three months after vaccination. Consistent with this finding, vaccination and infection elicited comparable levels of SARS-CoV-2 specific CD4+ T-cells after three months in addition to comparable proportions of specific central memory CD4+ T-cells. By contrast, the proportions of specific effector memory CD4+ T-cells were significantly lower, whereas specific effector CD4+ T-cells were higher after infection than after vaccination. Our results suggest that T-cell responses—as measured by cytokine expression—and the frequencies of SARS-CoV-2-specific central memory CD4+T-cells—indicative of the formation of the long-lived memory T-cell compartment—are comparably induced after infection and vaccination. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T03:56:11Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-7e157a52a6854897b7c9e5b0e184b45d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-393X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T03:56:11Z |
| publishDate | 2021-12-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Vaccines |
| spelling | doaj.art-7e157a52a6854897b7c9e5b0e184b45d2023-11-23T10:54:22ZengMDPI AGVaccines2076-393X2021-12-01912143910.3390/vaccines9121439Comparison of the Development of SARS-Coronavirus-2-Specific Cellular Immunity, and Central Memory CD4+ T-Cell Responses Following Infection versus VaccinationKevin M. Dennehy0Eva Löll1Christine Dhillon2Johanna-Maria Classen3Tobias D. Warm4Lukas Schuierer5Alexander Hyhlik-Dürr6Christoph Römmele7Yvonne Gosslau8Elisabeth Kling9Reinhard Hoffmann10Institute for Laboratory Medicine and Microbiology, Medical Faculty, University Hospital Augsburg, 86156 Augsburg, GermanyInstitute for Laboratory Medicine and Microbiology, Medical Faculty, University Hospital Augsburg, 86156 Augsburg, GermanyDepartment of Pathology, Medical Faculty, University Hospital Augsburg, 86156 Augsburg, GermanyInternal Medicine III-Gastroenterology and Infectious Diseases, Medical Faculty, University Hospital Augsburg, 86156 Augsburg, GermanyClinic for Vascular Surgery, Medical Faculty, University Hospital Augsburg, 86156 Augsburg, GermanyInstitute for Laboratory Medicine and Microbiology, Medical Faculty, University Hospital Augsburg, 86156 Augsburg, GermanyClinic for Vascular Surgery, Medical Faculty, University Hospital Augsburg, 86156 Augsburg, GermanyInternal Medicine III-Gastroenterology and Infectious Diseases, Medical Faculty, University Hospital Augsburg, 86156 Augsburg, GermanyClinic for Vascular Surgery, Medical Faculty, University Hospital Augsburg, 86156 Augsburg, GermanyInstitute for Laboratory Medicine and Microbiology, Medical Faculty, University Hospital Augsburg, 86156 Augsburg, GermanyInstitute for Laboratory Medicine and Microbiology, Medical Faculty, University Hospital Augsburg, 86156 Augsburg, GermanyMemory T-cell responses following infection with coronaviruses are reportedly long-lived and provide long-term protection against severe disease. Whether vaccination induces similar long-lived responses is not yet clear since, to date, there are limited data comparing memory CD4+ T-cell responses induced after SARS-CoV-2 infection versus following vaccination with BioNTech/Pfizer BNT162b2. We compared T-cell immune responses over time after infection or vaccination using ELISpot, and memory CD4+ T-cell responses three months after infection/vaccination using activation-induced marker flow cytometric assays. Levels of cytokine-producing T-cells were remarkably stable between three and twelve months after infection, and were comparable to IFNγ+ and IFNγ+IL-2+ T-cell responses but lower than IL-2+ T-cell responses at three months after vaccination. Consistent with this finding, vaccination and infection elicited comparable levels of SARS-CoV-2 specific CD4+ T-cells after three months in addition to comparable proportions of specific central memory CD4+ T-cells. By contrast, the proportions of specific effector memory CD4+ T-cells were significantly lower, whereas specific effector CD4+ T-cells were higher after infection than after vaccination. Our results suggest that T-cell responses—as measured by cytokine expression—and the frequencies of SARS-CoV-2-specific central memory CD4+T-cells—indicative of the formation of the long-lived memory T-cell compartment—are comparably induced after infection and vaccination.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-393X/9/12/1439SARS-CoV-2COVID-19vaccinationcellular immunitymemory T-cells |
| spellingShingle | Kevin M. Dennehy Eva Löll Christine Dhillon Johanna-Maria Classen Tobias D. Warm Lukas Schuierer Alexander Hyhlik-Dürr Christoph Römmele Yvonne Gosslau Elisabeth Kling Reinhard Hoffmann Comparison of the Development of SARS-Coronavirus-2-Specific Cellular Immunity, and Central Memory CD4+ T-Cell Responses Following Infection versus Vaccination Vaccines SARS-CoV-2 COVID-19 vaccination cellular immunity memory T-cells |
| title | Comparison of the Development of SARS-Coronavirus-2-Specific Cellular Immunity, and Central Memory CD4+ T-Cell Responses Following Infection versus Vaccination |
| title_full | Comparison of the Development of SARS-Coronavirus-2-Specific Cellular Immunity, and Central Memory CD4+ T-Cell Responses Following Infection versus Vaccination |
| title_fullStr | Comparison of the Development of SARS-Coronavirus-2-Specific Cellular Immunity, and Central Memory CD4+ T-Cell Responses Following Infection versus Vaccination |
| title_full_unstemmed | Comparison of the Development of SARS-Coronavirus-2-Specific Cellular Immunity, and Central Memory CD4+ T-Cell Responses Following Infection versus Vaccination |
| title_short | Comparison of the Development of SARS-Coronavirus-2-Specific Cellular Immunity, and Central Memory CD4+ T-Cell Responses Following Infection versus Vaccination |
| title_sort | comparison of the development of sars coronavirus 2 specific cellular immunity and central memory cd4 t cell responses following infection versus vaccination |
| topic | SARS-CoV-2 COVID-19 vaccination cellular immunity memory T-cells |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-393X/9/12/1439 |
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