Distinct immune cell dynamics correlate with the immunogenicity and reactogenicity of SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccine

Two doses of Pfizer/BioNTech BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine elicit robust severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)-neutralizing antibodies with frequent adverse events. Here, by applying a high-dimensional immune profiling on 92 vaccinees, we identify six vaccine-induced immune dynamics that correlate with the amounts of neutralizing antibodies, the severity of adverse events, or both. The early dynamics of natural killer (NK)/monocyte subsets (CD16(+) NK cells, CD56(high) NK cells, and non-classical monocytes), dendritic cell (DC) subsets (DC3s and CD11c(-) Axl(+) Siglec-6(+) [AS]-DCs), and NKT-like cells are revealed as the distinct cell correlates for neutralizing-antibody titers, severity of adverse events, and both, respectively. The cell correlates for neutralizing antibodies or adverse events are consistently associated with elevation of interferon gamma (IFN-gamma)-inducible chemokines, but the chemokine receptors CCR2 and CXCR3 are expressed in distinct manners between the two correlates: vaccine-induced expression on the neutralizing-antibody correlate and constitutive expression on the adverse-event correlate. The finding may guide vaccine strategies that balance immunogenicity and reactogenicity.

Automated summary

By applying high-dimensional immune profiling, the study identified vaccine-induced immune dynamics that correlate with neutralizing antibody levels, adverse event severity, or both. Natural killer cells, dendritic cell subsets, and NKT-like cells were found to play important roles in these immune dynamics.