- Mudd, Philip;
- Minervina, Anastasia;
- Pogorelyy, Mikhail;
- Turner, Jackson;
- Kim, Wooseob;
- Kalaidina, Elizaveta;
- Petersen, Jan;
- Schmitz, Aaron;
- Lei, Tingting;
- Haile, Alem;
- Kirk, Allison;
- Mettelman, Robert;
- Crawford, Jeremy;
- Nguyen, Thi;
- Rowntree, Louise;
- Rosati, Elisa;
- Richards, Katherine;
- Sant, Andrea;
- Klebert, Michael;
- Suessen, Teresa;
- Middleton, William;
- Wolf, Joshua;
- Teefey, Sharlene;
- OHalloran, Jane;
- Presti, Rachel;
- Kedzierska, Katherine;
- Rossjohn, Jamie;
- Thomas, Paul;
- Ellebedy, Ali
SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccines induce robust anti-spike (S) antibody and CD4+ T cell responses. It is not yet clear whether vaccine-induced follicular helper CD4+ T (TFH) cell responses contribute to this outstanding immunogenicity. Using fine-needle aspiration of draining axillary lymph nodes from individuals who received the BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine, we evaluated the T cell receptor sequences and phenotype of lymph node TFH. Mining of the responding TFH T cell receptor repertoire revealed a strikingly immunodominant HLA-DPB1∗04-restricted response to S167-180 in individuals with this allele, which is among the most common HLA alleles in humans. Paired blood and lymph node specimens show that while circulating S-specific TFH cells peak one week after the second immunization, S-specific TFH persist at nearly constant frequencies for at least six months. Collectively, our results underscore the key role that robust TFH cell responses play in establishing long-term immunity by this efficacious human vaccine.