Stanford University researchers published an in-depth vaccinology study on Pfizer's mRNA vaccine BNT162b2 in Nature. The researchers used multiple genomic methods, including mass spectrometry flow, RNA sequencing, single-cell RNA sequencing, and plasma proteomics Olink Inflammation Panel. The study found that compared with the initial vaccination, booster vaccination significantly enhanced the innate immune response, manifested by an increase in CD14 + CD16 + inflammatory monocytes, a significant increase in plasma IFNγ concentrations and the appearance of transcriptome characteristics of congenital antiviral immunity.
The researchers also used single-cell transcriptomic analysis to find that after secondary immunization, the bone marrow cell population enriched with interferon response and reduced AP-1 transcription factors increased by about 100 times, and found that this phenomenon was unique to mRA vaccination and is different from viral infection.