RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 SARS-CoV-2 escapes CD8 T cell surveillance via mutations in MHC-I restricted epitopes
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 2020.12.18.423507
DO 10.1101/2020.12.18.423507
A1 Benedikt Agerer
A1 Maximilian Koblischke
A1 Venugopal Gudipati
A1 Mark Smyth
A1 Alexandra Popa
A1 Jakob-Wendelin Genger
A1 Lukas Endler
A1 David M. Florian
A1 Vanessa Mühlgrabner
A1 Alexander Lercher
A1 Pia Gattinger
A1 Ricard Torralba-Gombau
A1 Thomas Penz
A1 Ingrid Fae
A1 Sabine Wenda
A1 Marianna Traungott
A1 Gernot Walder
A1 Gottfried Fischer
A1 Wolfgang Hoepler
A1 Erich Pawelka
A1 Alexander Zoufaly
A1 Rudolf Valenta
A1 Christoph Bock
A1 Johannes B. Huppa
A1 Judith H. Aberle
A1 Andreas Bergthaler
YR 2020
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/12/20/2020.12.18.423507.abstract
AB CD8+ T cell immunity to SARS-CoV-2 has been implicated in COVID-19 severity and virus control, though direct evidence has been lacking so far. Here, we identified non-synonymous mutations in MHC-I restricted CD8+ T cell epitopes after deep sequencing of 747 SARS-CoV- 2 virus isolates. Mutant peptides exhibited diminished or abrogated MHC-I binding, which was associated with a loss of recognition and functional responses by CD8+ T cells isolated from HLA-matched COVID-19 patients. Our findings highlight the capacity of SARS-CoV-2 to subvert CD8+ T cell surveillance through escape mutations in MHCI-restricted viral epitopes. This provides evolutionary evidence for CD8+ T cell immunity controlling SARS-CoV-2 with consequences for COVID-19 vaccine design.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.