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Mestiri S, Merhi M, Inchakalody VP, Taib N, Smatti MK, Ahmad F, Raza A, Ali FH, Hydrose S, Fernandes Q, Ansari AW, Sahir F, Al-Zaidan L, Jalis M, Ghoul M, Allahverdi N, Al Homsi MU, Uddin S, Jeremijenko AM, Nimir M, Abu-Raddad LJ, Abid FB, Zaqout A, Alfheid SR, Saqr HMH, Omrani AS, Hssain AA, Al Maslamani M, Yassine HM, Dermime S. 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. Front Immunol 2023; 14:1061255. [PMID: 36817441 PMCID: PMC9933868 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1061255] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/04/2022] [Accepted: 01/11/2023] [Indexed: 02/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Introduction 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. Methods Here, we dissect the vaccine-induced humoral and cellular responses in a cohort of six healthy recipients of two doses of this vaccine. Results and discussion 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.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarra Mestiri
- Translational Cancer Research Facility, National Center for Cancer Care and Research/ Translational Research Institute, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar.,National Center for Cancer Care and Research, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar
| | - Maysaloun Merhi
- Translational Cancer Research Facility, National Center for Cancer Care and Research/ Translational Research Institute, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar.,National Center for Cancer Care and Research, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar
| | - Varghese P Inchakalody
- Translational Cancer Research Facility, National Center for Cancer Care and Research/ Translational Research Institute, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar.,National Center for Cancer Care and Research, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar
| | - Nassiba Taib
- Translational Cancer Research Facility, National Center for Cancer Care and Research/ Translational Research Institute, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar.,National Center for Cancer Care and Research, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar
| | - Maria K Smatti
- Qatar University Biomedical Research Center, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar
| | - Fareed Ahmad
- Translational Research Institute, Academic Health System, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar.,Dermatology Institute, Academic Health System, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar
| | - Afsheen Raza
- Translational Cancer Research Facility, National Center for Cancer Care and Research/ Translational Research Institute, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar.,National Center for Cancer Care and Research, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar
| | - Fatma H Ali
- Qatar University Biomedical Research Center, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar
| | - Shereena Hydrose
- Translational Cancer Research Facility, National Center for Cancer Care and Research/ Translational Research Institute, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar.,National Center for Cancer Care and Research, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar
| | - Queenie Fernandes
- Translational Cancer Research Facility, National Center for Cancer Care and Research/ Translational Research Institute, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar.,College of Medicine, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar
| | - Abdul W Ansari
- Translational Research Institute, Academic Health System, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar.,Dermatology Institute, Academic Health System, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar
| | - Fairooz Sahir
- Translational Research Institute, Academic Health System, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar
| | - Lobna Al-Zaidan
- Translational Cancer Research Facility, National Center for Cancer Care and Research/ Translational Research Institute, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar.,National Center for Cancer Care and Research, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar
| | - Munir Jalis
- Translational Cancer Research Facility, National Center for Cancer Care and Research/ Translational Research Institute, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar.,National Center for Cancer Care and Research, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar
| | - Mokhtar Ghoul
- Translational Cancer Research Facility, National Center for Cancer Care and Research/ Translational Research Institute, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar.,National Center for Cancer Care and Research, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar
| | - Niloofar Allahverdi
- Translational Cancer Research Facility, National Center for Cancer Care and Research/ Translational Research Institute, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar.,National Center for Cancer Care and Research, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar
| | - Mohammed U Al Homsi
- National Center for Cancer Care and Research, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar
| | - Shahab Uddin
- Translational Research Institute, Academic Health System, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar.,Dermatology Institute, Academic Health System, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar
| | | | - Mai Nimir
- Communicable Disease Center, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar
| | - Laith J Abu-Raddad
- Infectious Disease Epidemiology Group, Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar, Cornell University, Qatar Foundation-Education City, Doha, Qatar.,World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Disease Epidemiology Analytics on HIV/AIDS, Sexually Transmitted Infections, and Viral Hepatitis, Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar, Cornell University, Qatar Foundation-Education City, Doha, Qatar.,Department of Population Health Sciences, Weill Cornell Medicine, Cornell University, New York, NY, United States
| | - Fatma Ben Abid
- Communicable Disease Center, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar
| | - Ahmed Zaqout
- Communicable Disease Center, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar
| | - Sameer R Alfheid
- Communicable Disease Center, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar
| | | | - Ali S Omrani
- College of Medicine, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar.,Communicable Disease Center, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar
| | - Ali Ait Hssain
- Medical Intensive Care Unit, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar
| | | | - Hadi M Yassine
- Qatar University Biomedical Research Center, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar
| | - Said Dermime
- Translational Cancer Research Facility, National Center for Cancer Care and Research/ Translational Research Institute, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar.,National Center for Cancer Care and Research, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar
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