Durability of SARS-CoV-2-specific T cell responses at 12-months post-infection
Abstract
Background Characterizing the longevity and quality of cellular immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 is critical to understanding immunologic approaches to protection against COVID-19. Prior studies suggest SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells are present in peripheral blood 10 months after infection. Further analysis of the function, durability, and diversity of the cellular response long after natural infection, over a wider range of ages and disease phenotypes, is needed to further identify preventative and therapeutic interventions.
Methods We identified participants in our multi-site longitudinal, prospective cohort study 12-months post SARS-CoV-2 infection representing a range of disease severity. We investigated the function, phenotypes, and frequency of T cells specific for SARS-CoV-2 using intracellular cytokine staining and spectral flow cytometry. In parallel, the magnitude of SARS-CoV-2-specific antibodies was compared.
Results SARS-CoV-2-specific antibodies and T cells were detected at 12-months post-infection. Severity of acute illness was associated with higher frequencies of SARS-CoV-2-specific CD4 T cells and antibodies at 12-months. In contrast, polyfunctional and cytotoxic T cells responsive to SARS-CoV-2 were identified in participants over a wide spectrum of disease severity.
Conclusions Our data show that SARS-CoV-2 infection induces polyfunctional memory T cells detectable at 12-months post-infection, with higher frequency noted in those who originally experienced severe disease.
Competing Interest Statement
The authors have declared no competing interest.
Subject Area
- Biochemistry (11752)
- Bioengineering (8752)
- Bioinformatics (29200)
- Biophysics (14974)
- Cancer Biology (12096)
- Cell Biology (17411)
- Clinical Trials (138)
- Developmental Biology (9421)
- Ecology (14182)
- Epidemiology (2067)
- Evolutionary Biology (18308)
- Genetics (12245)
- Genomics (16803)
- Immunology (11869)
- Microbiology (28097)
- Molecular Biology (11594)
- Neuroscience (60969)
- Paleontology (451)
- Pathology (1871)
- Pharmacology and Toxicology (3238)
- Physiology (4959)
- Plant Biology (10427)
- Synthetic Biology (2886)
- Systems Biology (7340)
- Zoology (1651)