Different T-cell and B-cell repertoire elicited by the SARS-CoV-2 inactivated vaccine and S1 subunit vaccine in rhesus macaques.

Multiple types of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines have been used worldwide, but summarizing their immunologic efficacy post-vaccination remains challenging. The BCR and TCR sequencing based on single-cell sorting makes it possible to evaluate the vaccine-induced immune responses of B or T cells. In this study, we compared the repertoire diversities of B cells and T cells between a whole-virus inactivated vaccine and an S1 protein subunit vaccine in rhesus macaques. We found that the inactivated vaccine could induce a large antigen-specific-BCR repertoire with longer VH CDR3 (21 aa), while the CD3+ TCR α chains of the two vaccine groups showed a similar TCRV/J usage frequency. Detailed analysis of the TCR and BCR repertoires might be of interest for further understanding of the mechanisms of vaccine-induced immune responses.