Innate Responses to the Former COVID-19 Vaccine Candidate CVnCoV and Their Relation to Reactogenicity and Adaptive Immunogenicity

Abstract

Vaccines are highly effective at preventing severe coronavirus disease (COVID-19). With mRNA vaccines, further research is needed to understand the association between immunogenicity and reactogenicity, which is defined as the physical manifestation of an inflammatory response to a vaccination. This study analyzed the immune response and reactogenicity in humans, post immunization, to the former SARS-CoV-2 mRNA investigational vaccine CVnCoV (CV-NCOV-001 and CV-NCOV-002 clinical trials). Immunogenicity was investigated using whole-blood RNA sequencing, serum cytokine levels, and SARS-CoV-2-specific antibodies. The T cell responses in peripheral blood were assessed using intracellular cytokine staining (ICS) and high-dimensional profiling in conjunction with SARS-CoV-2 antigen-specificity testing via mass cytometry. Reactogenicity was graded after participants’ first and second doses of CVnCoV using vaccine-related solicited adverse events (AEs). Finally, a Spearman correlation was performed between reactogenicity, humoral immunity, and serum cytokine levels to assess the relationship between reactogenicity and immunogenicity post CVnCoV vaccination. Our findings showed that the gene sets related to innate and inflammatory immune responses were upregulated one day post CVnCoV vaccination, while the gene sets related to adaptive immunity were upregulated predominantly one week after the second dose. The serum levels of IFNα, IFNγ, IP-10, CXCL11, IL-10, and MCP-1 increased transiently, peaking one day post vaccination. CD4+ T cells were induced in all vaccinated participants and low frequencies of CD8+ T cells were detected by ex vivo ICS. Using mass cytometry, SARS-CoV-2 spike-specific CD8+ T cells were induced and were characterized as having an activated effector memory phenotype. Overall, the results demonstrated a positive correlation between vaccine-induced systemic cytokines, reactogenicity, and adaptive immunity, highlighting the importance of the balance between the induction of innate immunity to achieve vaccine efficacy and ensuring low reactogenicity.