Protective heterologous T cell immunity in COVID-19 induced by MMR and Tdap vaccine antigens

Mayadas, T.; Mysore, V.; Cullere, X.; Settles, M. L.; Kattan, M.; Ji, X.; Desjardins, M.; Durbin-Johnson, B.; Gilboa, T.; Baden, L.; Walt, D.; Andrew, L.; Jehi, L.

doi:10.1101/2021.05.03.441323

bioRxiv · 10.1101/2021.05.03.441323

Protective heterologous T cell immunity in COVID-19 induced by MMR and Tdap vaccine antigens

Mayadas, T.·Mysore, V.·Cullere, X.·Settles, M. L.·Kattan, M.·Ji, X.·Desjardins, M.·Durbin-Johnson, B.·Gilboa, T.·Baden, L.·Walt, D.·Andrew, L.·Jehi, L.

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Abstract

T cells are critical for control of viral infection and effective vaccination. We investigated whether prior Measles-Mumps-Rubella (MMR) or Tetanus-Diphtheria-pertussis (Tdap) vaccination elicit cross-reactive T cells that mitigate COVID-19. Using co-cultures of antigen presenting cells (APC) loaded with antigens and autologous T cells, we found a high correlation between responses to SARS-CoV-2 (Spike-S1 and Nucleocapsid) and MMR and Tdap vaccine proteins in both SARS-CoV-2 infected individuals and individuals immunized with mRNA-based SARS-CoV-2 vaccines. The overlapping T cell population contained effector memory T cells (TEMRA) previously implicated in anti-viral immunity and their activation required APC-derived IL-15. TCR- and scRNA-sequencing detected cross-reactive clones with TEMRA features among the cells recognizing SARS-CoV-2, MMR and Tdap epitopes. A propensity-weighted analysis of 73,582 COVID-19 patients revealed that severe disease outcomes (hospitalization and transfer to intensive care unit or death) were reduced in MMR or Tdap vaccinated individuals by 38-32% and 23-20% respectively. In summary, SARS-CoV-2 re-activates memory T cells generated by Tdap and MMR vaccines, which may reduce disease severity.

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Mayadas, T., Mysore, V., Cullere, X., Settles, M. L., Kattan, M., Ji, X., Desjardins, M., Durbin-Johnson, B., Gilboa, T., Baden, L., Walt, D., Andrew, L., Jehi, L.. 2021-05-04. Protective heterologous T cell immunity in COVID-19 induced by MMR and Tdap vaccine antigens. https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.05.03.441323

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