%0 Journal Article
%T Persistence of spike-specific immune responses in BNT162b2-vaccinated donors and generation of rapid ex-vivo T cells expansion protocol for adoptive immunotherapy: A pilot study.
%A Mestiri S
%A Merhi M
%A Inchakalody VP
%A Taib N
%A Smatti MK
%A Ahmad F
%A Raza A
%A Ali FH
%A Hydrose S
%A Fernandes Q
%A Ansari AW
%A Sahir F
%A Al-Zaidan L
%A Jalis M
%A Ghoul M
%A Allahverdi N
%A Al Homsi MU
%A Uddin S
%A Jeremijenko AM
%A Nimir M
%A Abu-Raddad LJ
%A Abid FB
%A Zaqout A
%A Alfheid SR
%A Saqr HMH
%A Omrani AS
%A Hssain AA
%A Al Maslamani M
%A Yassine HM
%A Dermime S
%J Front Immunol
%V 14
%N 0
%D 2023
%M 36817441
%F 8.786
%R 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1061255
%X The BNT162b2 mRNA-based vaccine has shown high efficacy in preventing COVID-19 infection but there are limited data on the types and persistence of the humoral and T cell responses to such a vaccine.
Here, we dissect the vaccine-induced humoral and cellular responses in a cohort of six healthy recipients of two doses of this vaccine.
Overall, there was heterogeneity in the spike-specific humoral and cellular responses among vaccinated individuals. Interestingly, we demonstrated that anti-spike antibody levels detected by a novel simple automated assay (Jess) were strongly correlated (r=0.863, P<0.0001) with neutralizing activity; thus, providing a potential surrogate for neutralizing cell-based assays. The spike-specific T cell response was measured with a newly modified T-spot assay in which the high-homology peptide-sequences cross-reactive with other coronaviruses were removed. This response was induced in 4/6 participants after the first dose, and all six participants after the second dose, and remained detectable in 4/6 participants five months post-vaccination. We have also shown for the first time, that BNT162b2 vaccine enhanced T cell responses also against known human common viruses. In addition, we demonstrated the efficacy of a rapid ex-vivo T cell expansion protocol for spike-specific T cell expansion to be potentially used for adoptive-cell therapy in severe COVID-19, immunocompromised individuals, and other high-risk groups. There was a 9 to 13.7-fold increase in the number of expanded T cells with a significant increase of anti-spike specific response showing higher frequencies of both activation and cytotoxic markers. Interestingly, effector memory T cells were dominant in all four participants' CD8+ expanded memory T cells; CD4+ T cells were dominated by effector memory in 2/4 participants and by central memory in the remaining two participants. Moreover, we found that high frequencies of CD4+ terminally differentiated memory T cells were associated with a greater reduction of spike-specific activated CD4+ T cells. Finally, we showed that participants who had a CD4+ central memory T cell dominance expressed a high CD69 activation marker in the CD4+ activated T cells.