Vaccination provides superior in vivo recall capacity of SARS-CoV-2-specific memory CD8 T cells
Inga Kavazović,
Christoforos Dimitropoulos,
Dora Gašparini,
Mari Rončević Filipović,
Igor Barković,
Jan Koster,
Niels A. Lemmermann,
Marina Babić,
Đurđica Cekinović Grbeša,
Felix M. Wensveen
Affiliations
Inga Kavazović
Department of Histology and Embryology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Rijeka, 51000 Rijeka, Croatia
Christoforos Dimitropoulos
Innate Immunity, German Rheumatism Research Centre-a Leibniz Institute, 10117 Berlin, Germany
Dora Gašparini
Department of Histology and Embryology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Rijeka, 51000 Rijeka, Croatia
Mari Rončević Filipović
Department of Infectiology, Clinical Hospital Center Rijeka, 51000 Rijeka, Croatia
Igor Barković
Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Rijeka, 51000 Rijeka, Croatia
Jan Koster
Amsterdam UMC Location University of Amsterdam, Center for Experimental and Molecular Medicine, 1105AZ Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Niels A. Lemmermann
Institute for Virology and Research Center for Immunotherapy (FZI) at the University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University, 55131 Mainz, Germany
Marina Babić
Department of Histology and Embryology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Rijeka, 51000 Rijeka, Croatia; Innate Immunity, German Rheumatism Research Centre-a Leibniz Institute, 10117 Berlin, Germany
Đurđica Cekinović Grbeša
Department of Infectiology, Clinical Hospital Center Rijeka, 51000 Rijeka, Croatia
Felix M. Wensveen
Department of Histology and Embryology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Rijeka, 51000 Rijeka, Croatia; Corresponding author
Summary: Memory CD8 T cells play an important role in the protection against breakthrough infections with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Whether the route of antigen exposure impacts these cells at a functional level is incompletely characterized. Here, we compare the memory CD8 T cell response against a common SARS-CoV-2 epitope after vaccination, infection, or both. CD8 T cells demonstrate comparable functional capacity when restimulated directly ex vivo, independent of the antigenic history. However, analysis of T cell receptor usage shows that vaccination results in a narrower scope than infection alone or in combination with vaccination. Importantly, in an in vivo recall model, memory CD8 T cells from infected individuals show equal proliferation but secrete less tumor necrosis factor (TNF) compared with those from vaccinated people. This difference is negated when infected individuals have also been vaccinated. Our findings shed more light on the differences in susceptibility to re-infection after different routes of SARS-CoV-2 antigen exposure.
