Distinct transcriptional states of draining lymph node T cells following influenza vaccination in individuals with underrepresented ancestries
- 1University of Oxford
Abstract
The transcriptional and cell repertoire changes of lymph node (LN) T cells following influenza vaccination have been under-investigated across different ethnicities. Draining (dLN) and non-draining (ndLN) axillary LN cells from 17 participants with genotypically varied African or Asian ancestry (ISRCTN13657999) were collected by fine needle aspiration (FNA) before, 5 days and 42 days after adjuvanted influenza vaccination and analysed by single-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq). The early dLN transcriptional profile and cellular dynamics were distinct from the ndLN; BACH2 expressing T cells were highly induced, exhibiting stem-like and unique quiescence signatures. Proliferating T follicular helper cells (Tfh) were enriched in dLN and Th1-like Tfh predominated with highly induced transcriptional changes. The BACH2+ T cell state and Th1-like Tfh cells, transcriptionally distinct from germinal centre (GC) T cells, were co-localised with LAMP3+ dendritic cells in the T cell zone of publicly available LN datasets, a region that was also distinct from GC Tfh niches. Together, these findings indicate that the induction of a robust, proliferative, and transcriptionally diverse Tfh response, alongside a discrete subset of BACH2+ T cells, represents a marked feature of the early T cell zone immune response to adjuvanted influenza vaccine in the dLN.
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BibTeX
@misc{kim2026distinct,
title = {{Distinct transcriptional states of draining lymph node T cells following influenza vaccination in individuals with underrepresented ancestries}},
author = {S. Kim and J. Siu and T. Chan and C. Kaur and C. H.-j. Lee and W. Zhang and J. Mackerodt and T. Szommer and K. Dooley and S. Coelho and A. Palomeras and J. Fowler and B. Marsden and T. Lambe and D. Palmer and H. Koohy and N. Provine and M. Coles and C. A. Dendrou and K. Pollock},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.64898/2026.09.19.752896},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.19.752896v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Distinct transcriptional states of draining lymph node T cells following influenza vaccination in individuals with underrepresented ancestries
AU - S. Kim
AU - J. Siu
AU - T. Chan
AU - C. Kaur
AU - C. H.-j. Lee
AU - W. Zhang
AU - J. Mackerodt
AU - T. Szommer
AU - K. Dooley
AU - S. Coelho
AU - A. Palomeras
AU - J. Fowler
AU - B. Marsden
AU - T. Lambe
AU - D. Palmer
AU - H. Koohy
AU - N. Provine
AU - M. Coles
AU - C. A. Dendrou
AU - K. Pollock
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/19
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.09.19.752896
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.19.752896v1
AB - The transcriptional and cell repertoire changes of lymph node (LN) T cells following influenza vaccination have been under-investigated across different ethnicities. Draining (dLN) and non-draining (ndLN) axillary LN cells from 17 participants with genotypically varied African or Asian ancestry (ISRCTN13657999) were collected by fine needle aspiration (FNA) before, 5 days and 42 days after adjuvanted influenza vaccination and analysed by single-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq). The early dLN transcriptional profile and cellular dynamics were distinct from the ndLN; BACH2 expressing T cells were highly induced, exhibiting stem-like and unique quiescence signatures. Proliferating T follicular helper cells (Tfh) were enriched in dLN and Th1-like Tfh predominated with highly induced transcriptional changes. The BACH2+ T cell state and Th1-like Tfh cells, transcriptionally distinct from germinal centre (GC) T cells, were co-localised with LAMP3+ dendritic cells in the T cell zone of publicly available LN datasets, a region that was also distinct from GC Tfh niches. Together, these findings indicate that the induction of a robust, proliferative, and transcriptionally diverse Tfh response, alongside a discrete subset of BACH2+ T cells, represents a marked feature of the early T cell zone immune response to adjuvanted influenza vaccine in the dLN.
ER -