Expansion of cytotoxic tissue-resident CD8⁺ T cells and CCR6⁺CD161⁺ CD4⁺ T cells in the nasal mucosa following mRNA COVID-19 vaccination.

ABSTRACT: Vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 have shown high efficacy in clinical trials, yet a full immunologic characterization of these vaccines, particularly within the human upper respiratory tract, is less well known. Here, we enumerate and phenotype T cells in nasal mucosa and blood using flow cytometry before and after vaccination with the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine (n = 21). Tissue-resident memory (Trm) CD8⁺ T cells expressing CD69⁺CD103⁺ increase in number ~12 days following the first and second doses, by 0.31 and 0.43 log₁₀ cells per swab respectively (p = 0.058 and p = 0.009 in adjusted linear mixed models). CD69⁺CD103⁺CD8⁺ T cells in the blood decrease post-vaccination. Similar increases in nasal CD8⁺

SUBMITTER: Ssemaganda A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9186487 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature