STAT5-c-Myc-axis regulates the difference of B cell metabolism between vaccinated population and recovered COVID-19 patients

Both SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccination can elicit immune responses. The former is naturally acquired immunity, while the latter is active artificially acquired immunity. However, the different effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccination on the immune response and the underlying mechanisms are still unclear. Here, we found although there is no significant difference in peripheral B cell differentiation between the vaccinated and the recovered group, the vaccinated group has higher signal intensity of CD86 and HLA-DR in CD19+RBD+ B cells and has stronger BCR signal of B cells. For metabolic signal, the vaccinated group has higher expression of pmTOR, pS6, c-Myc and pSTAT5, which indicates the STAT5-c-Myc axis regulates B cell metabolism. We found serum of vaccinated group has higher level of IgG antibodies specific to SARS-CoV-2 N-Nter protein and IgA antibodies specific to SARS-CoV-2 S1 protein by using proteome microarray. In conclusion, these results show that the vaccinated group has a stronger coronavirus specific immune response and higher metabolism signal than the recovered group, which provides strategies for vaccine design of SARS-CoV-2.