Fig. 3: Baseline TH1:TH17 cell ratio and cytotoxic gene expression are predictive of PCV13 vaccine responsiveness rank.
a, Longitudinal analysis of the absolute numbers of plasmablasts (cells per μl; top) and ICOS+ TFH cells (cells per μl; bottom) among the memory CD4+ T cell population in response to PCV13 (n = 16) and PPSV23 (n = 19). b, Correlation analysis between the absolute number of different cell types (DC, B cell and CD4+ T cell subsets) analyzed in whole blood and ranks. c, Correlation analysis between ranks and frequencies of TH1, TH17 and TH2 cells evaluated at baseline. d, Sex differences in the frequencies of TH1 and TH17 cells and TH1:TH17 cell ratio at baseline (n = 16 for PCV13; n = 19 for PPSV23). TH1 and TH17 cell frequencies were calculated relative to the total CD4+ T cell count. e, Association between TH1:TH17 cell ratio and age among men (green) and women (dark yellow) in response to PCV13 and PPSV23. f, Correlation analysis between baseline expression of cytotoxic genes (NCAM1, GNLY and PRF1) and PCV13 vaccine responsiveness rank (top; n = 14) and PPSV23 vaccine responsiveness rank (bottom; n = 16). g, Sex differences in the expression of NCAM1, PRF1 and GNLY at baseline (n = 14 for PCV13; n = 16 for PPSV23). h, Association between NCAM1, PRF1 and GNLY expression and age (n = 14 for PCV13; n = 16 for PPSV23). Box plots display the median and IQR (25–75%), with whiskers representing the upper and lower quartiles ±1.5× IQR. A Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed-rank test (two sided) was used to compare the absolute numbers of plasmablasts and ICOS+ TFH cells longitudinally (a). Correlation analyses were performed using the Pearson correlation metric (b, c, e, f and h), and P values were computed using two-sided t-tests; n represents the number of biological replicates.
