{"doi":"10.1016/j.jaci.2025.01.024","title":"BNT162b2 COVID-19 vaccination elicits the expansion of CD16+CD8+ T cells endowed with natural killer cell features","abstract":"Background The Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine, also known as BNT162b2, was developed using a novel technology based on mRNA and protects against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) via induction of specific antibody and T-cell responses. Much less is known about the broader effects of this new class of vaccines on unconventional cellular components of the immune system. Objectives We aimed to characterize a subset of unconventional T cells emerging following BNT162b2 mRNA vaccination. Methods Peripheral blood from a total of 30 human healthy individuals who received 2 doses of the BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine was collected for the analysis of T-cell compartment by using multiparametric flow cytometry and single-cell transcriptome analyses. Results In the peripheral blood of individuals undergoing BNT162b2 vaccination, we observed a sizable fraction of CD8 + T cells expressing CD16, a low-affinity FcR for IgG. These cells were severe acute respiratory coronavirus 2–specific, characterized by IFN-γ response gene transcripts and stimulation through CD16 and other natural killer (NK)-cell innate receptors elicited a functional response. Both CD16 and NKp30 could be induced on NKp80 + CD8 + T cells and the engagement of NKp80 in combination with CD16 resulted in synergic effects. CD16 + CD8 + T cells also showed a high expression of the inhibitory receptor G protein-coupled receptor 56 (GPR56), capable of limiting their activation via CD16. Conclusions These data indicate that BNT162b2 COVID-19 vaccination provides an additional large fraction of antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC)–capable effector cells, endowed with innate functions and therefore able to potentially counteract a much wider array of diseases, including cancer.","journal":"Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology","year":2025,"id":542952,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":1,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9519,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2025-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":1246537,"name":"Fabiana Drommi","orcid":null,"position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1246536,"name":"Alessia Calabrò","orcid":null,"position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":629885,"name":"Cirino Botta","orcid":"0000-0002-1522-4504","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1245904,"name":"Giacomo Sidoti Migliore","orcid":"0000-0001-5406-6863","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1432388,"name":"Paolo Carrega","orcid":"0000-0001-8541-9115","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1245905,"name":"Grazia Vento","orcid":"0000-0001-8024-7406","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1432719,"name":"Amirhossein Gaeini","orcid":null,"position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1246538,"name":"Gaetana Pezzino","orcid":null,"position":8,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1245906,"name":"Josè Freni","orcid":"0000-0001-7855-2655","position":9,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1245908,"name":"Irene Bonaccorsi","orcid":"0000-0002-2893-0117","position":10,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1432389,"name":"Massimo Vitale","orcid":"0000-0001-5372-7885","position":11,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":804289,"name":"Gilberto Filaci","orcid":"0000-0001-6445-8414","position":12,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":862021,"name":"Daniela Fenoglio","orcid":"0000-0001-9532-6473","position":13,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1432720,"name":"Raffaella Iemmo","orcid":null,"position":14,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1245907,"name":"Gregorio Costa","orcid":"0000-0001-8668-0614","position":15,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1246539,"name":"Riccardo Cavaliere","orcid":null,"position":16,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1245910,"name":"Guido Ferlazzo","orcid":"0000-0002-3874-8554","position":17,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1245912,"name":"Stefania Campana","orcid":"0000-0001-7645-0946","position":18,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1245911,"name":"Claudia De Pasquale","orcid":"0009-0008-5250-1970","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":43,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T02:53:00.171379Z","pmid":"39894227","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}