Fig. 2: T cell functionality and polyfunctionality following repeated SARS-CoV-2 vaccination.

PBMCs were stimulated for 24 h using a peptide pool derived from the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2, and intracellular cytokine stains were conducted to evaluate cytokine production using flow cytometry. COMPASS heatmap of posterior probabilities of a spike-specific response in a CD4⁺ T cells b and CD8⁺ T cells for each cytokine combination. COMPASS functionality score (FS) for c CD4⁺ T cells and d CD8⁺ T cells in each cohort following repeated SARS-CoV-2 vaccinations. COMPASS polyfunctionality score (PFS) for e CD4⁺ T cells and f CD8⁺ T cells in each cohort following repeated SARS-CoV-2 vaccinations. For a, b, each column represents a different cytokine combination as indicated by the shaded legend beneath the heatmap, while each row is a unique participant. The blue scaling within the heatmaps indicates the posterior probabilities. Colored bars on the left side denote the cohorts associated with the rows, and timepoint within each cohort. For c–f, participant vaccination history is indicated by circles (BNT162b2 only), squares (mRNA-1273 only), triangles (mixed BNT162b2 and mRNA-1273), or diamonds (mRNA only but one vaccine unknown). The solid red lines indicate the median of each group. 2 indicates 3mo2, 3 is 3mo3, and 4 is 3mo4. LTC: 3mo2 n = 14, 3mo3 n = 23, 3mo4 n = 18. RA: 3mo2 n = 7, 3mo3 n = 9, 3mo4 n = 8. HA: 3mo2 n = 41, 3mo3 n = 21, 3mo4 n = 7. Multivariable linear mixed models accounting for age and sex were used to assess changes in the CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ T cell FS and PFS within a given cohort following additional SARS-CoV-2 vaccinations. For heatmaps, columns of cytokine combination subsets with posterior probabilities less than 0.005 for all participants are not displayed. If p values are not indicated, the result was not significant.