Tfh dysfunction underlies poor responses to HBV vaccination

Abstract

The primary goal of vaccination is to induce durable protection through generation of antigen-specific humoral immunity and cellular immune memory. Yet the same vaccine may elicit durable protection in some and less durable responses in others. Antigen-specific antibody responses arise from germinal centers (GCs), where T follicular helper (Tfh) cells help cognate B cells undergo somatic hypermutation (SHM), affinity maturation to generate humoral protection and cellular immune memory. In humans, however, the mechanisms linking GC dynamics to downstream antibody output remain incompletely characterized. To identify the molecular and cellular events that underlie differential vaccine responsiveness, we leveraged the known, pronounced variability in vaccine antigen-specific antibody concentration and durability observed after Hepatitis B virus (HBV) immunization. We longitudinally profiled 101 healthy adults undergoing either de novo (n=59) or booster (n=42) immunization. We then stratified participants into High (>100 mIU/mL) and Low (<100 mIU/mL) responder groups based on vaccine antigen-specific antibody responses. From this cohort, we obtained core needle biopsies (CNBx) of vaccine-draining lymph nodes from 10 participants (High Responder n=6, Low Responder n=4), 10-21 days post-final vaccination and performed single-cell RNA sequencing with paired antigen receptor sequencing. Lymph node BCR repertoire analysis revealed convergent, semi-public clonotypes across unrelated participants with elevated SHM. Transcriptomic profiling of GC-B cells uncovered stark functional divergence between response groups, with High Responders showing robust activation across both dark zone (DZ) and light zone (LZ) compartments and enrichment of MYC and mTORC1 signaling. In contrast, Low Responders exhibited a contracted LZ compartment and a stalled GC B cell response. This divergence in B cell responses corresponded to changes in the T cell compartment. High Responders harbored an expanded Tfh subset marked by increased expression of CXCL13, ICOS, and GNG4, indicative of their GC localization and capacity to provide B cell help. Moreover, receptor-ligand analysis indicated that these GNG4+Tfh formed coordinated costimulatory networks capable of driving LZ GC-B cell licensing. Low Responders demonstrated a divergent program in which their GNG4+Tfh displayed aberrant inflammatory transcriptional activity. This inflammatory signaling was associated with reduced specificity of BCL6 regulon activity despite maintained expression of canonical Tfh genes. Together, these findings reveal that variable HBV vaccine responsiveness was associated with transcriptional network alterations in the GNG4+Tfh subset, offering a molecular framework for understanding poor vaccine responses. One Sentence SummaryLymph node Tfh dysfunction is associated with poor vaccine responses to Hepatitis B virus vaccination