Nature Communications (Aug 2022)

COVID-19 mRNA booster vaccine induces transient CD8+ T effector cell responses while conserving the memory pool for subsequent reactivation

  • Matthias Reinscheid,
  • Hendrik Luxenburger,
  • Vivien Karl,
  • Anne Graeser,
  • Sebastian Giese,
  • Kevin Ciminski,
  • David B. Reeg,
  • Valerie Oberhardt,
  • Natascha Roehlen,
  • Julia Lang-Meli,
  • Kathrin Heim,
  • Nina Gross,
  • Christina Baum,
  • Siegbert Rieg,
  • Claudius Speer,
  • Florian Emmerich,
  • Susanne Breisinger,
  • Daniel Steinmann,
  • Bertram Bengsch,
  • Tobias Boettler,
  • Georg Kochs,
  • Martin Schwemmle,
  • Robert Thimme,
  • Christoph Neumann-Haefelin,
  • Maike Hofmann

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-32324-x
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 13, no. 1
pp. 1 – 11

Abstract

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Vaccines induce beneficial immunity for COVID-19, but immune waning prompts boosting vaccination. Here, the authors show that a third, boosting dose of COVID-19 mRNA vaccine induces transient CD8 + T effector cell response while conserving the CD8 memory T cell pool, thereby permitting reactivation of spike-specific CD8 + T cells upon breakthrough infection or 4th vaccination.