mRNA BNT162b Vaccine Elicited Higher Antibody and CD4+ T-Cell Responses than Patients with Mild COVID-19

Federica Zavaglio; Irene Cassaniti; Josè Camilla Sammartino; Stelvio Tonello; Pier Paolo Sainaghi; Viola Novelli; Federica Meloni; Daniele Lilleri; Fausto Baldanti

doi:10.3390/microorganisms10061250

mRNA BNT162b Vaccine Elicited Higher Antibody and CD4⁺ T-Cell Responses than Patients with Mild COVID-19

Microorganisms. 2022 Jun 18;10(6):1250. doi: 10.3390/microorganisms10061250.

Authors

Federica Zavaglio¹, Irene Cassaniti¹, Josè Camilla Sammartino¹, Stelvio Tonello^{2

3}, Pier Paolo Sainaghi^{2

3

4}, Viola Novelli⁵, Federica Meloni⁶, Daniele Lilleri¹, Fausto Baldanti^{1

7}

Affiliations

¹ Microbiology and Virology Department, Fondazione IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo, 27100 Pavia, Italy.
² Immunoreumatology Laboratory, Center for Translational Research on Autoimmune and Allergic Disease-CAAD, University of Piemonte Orientale, 28100 Novara, Italy.
³ Internal Medicine Laboratory, Department of Translational Medicine, University of Piemonte Orientale, 28100 Novara, Italy.
⁴ Immunorheumatology Unit, Division of Internal Medicine, "Maggiore della Carità" Univerisity Hospital, 28100 Novara, Italy.
⁵ Medical Direction, Fondazione IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo, 27100 Pavia, Italy.
⁶ Research Laboratory of Lung Diseases, Section of Cell Biology, Fondazione IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo, 27100 Pavia, Italy.
⁷ Department of Clinical, Surgical, Diagnostic and Pediatric Sciences, University of Pavia, 27100 Pavia, Italy.

Abstract

We compared the development and persistence of antibody and T-cell responses elicited by the mRNA BNT162b2 vaccine or SARS-CoV-2 infection. We analysed 37 post-COVID-19 patients (15 with pneumonia and 22 with mild symptoms) and 20 vaccinated subjects. Anti-Spike IgG and neutralising antibodies were higher in vaccinated subjects and in patients with pneumonia than in patients with mild COVID-19, and persisted at higher levels in patients with pneumonia while declining in vaccinated subjects. However, the booster dose restored the initial antibody levels. The proliferative CD4⁺ T-cell response was similar in vaccinated subjects and patients with pneumonia, but was lower in mild COVID-19 patients and persisted in both vaccinated subjects and post-COVID patients. Instead, the proliferative CD8⁺ T-cell response was lower in vaccinated subjects than in patients with pneumonia, decreased six months after vaccination, and was not restored after the booster dose. The cytokine profile was mainly T_H1 in both vaccinated subjects and post-COVID-19 patients. The mRNA BNT162b2 vaccine elicited higher levels of antibody and CD4⁺ T-cell responses than those observed in mild COVID-19 patients. While the antibody response declined after six months and required a booster dose to be restored at the initial levels, the proliferative CD4⁺ T-cell response persisted over time.

Keywords: SARS-CoV-2; T-cell response; antibody response; cytokine production; mRNA BNT162b vaccine.

Abstract

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