Robust SARS-CoV-2-specific T cell immunity is maintained at 6 months following primary infection

Jianmin Zuo, Alexander C Dowell, Hayden Pearce, Kriti Verma, Heather M Long, Jusnara Begum, Felicity Aiano, Zahin Amin-Chowdhury, Bassam Hallis, Lorrain Stapley, Ray Borrow, Ezra Linley, Shazaad Ahmad, Ben Parker, Alex Horsley, Gayatri Amirthalingam, Kevin Brown, Mary E Ramsay, Shamez Ladhani, Paul Moss

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

10 Citations (Scopus)
159 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

The immune response to SARS-CoV-2 is critical in controlling disease, but there is concern that waning immunity may predispose to reinfection. We analyzed the magnitude and phenotype of the SARS-CoV-2-specific T cell response in 100 donors at 6 months following infection. T cell responses were present by ELISPOT and/or intracellular cytokine staining analysis in all donors and characterized by predominant CD4+ T cell responses with strong interleukin (IL)-2 cytokine expression. Median T cell responses were 50% higher in donors who had experienced a symptomatic infection, indicating that the severity of primary infection establishes a 'set point' for cellular immunity. T cell responses to spike and nucleoprotein/membrane proteins were correlated with peak antibody levels. Furthermore, higher levels of nucleoprotein-specific T cells were associated with preservation of nucleoprotein-specific antibody level although no such correlation was observed in relation to spike-specific responses. In conclusion, our data are reassuring that functional SARS-CoV-2-specific T cell responses are retained at 6 months following infection.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)620-626
Number of pages7
JournalNature Immunology
Volume22
Issue number5
Early online date5 Mar 2021
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - May 2021

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature America, Inc. part of Springer Nature.

Keywords

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Antibodies, Viral/blood
  • Antigens, Viral/immunology
  • CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes/immunology
  • CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes/immunology
  • COVID-19/blood
  • Female
  • Host-Pathogen Interactions
  • Humans
  • Immunity, Cellular
  • Interleukin-2/blood
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Phenotype
  • SARS-CoV-2/immunology
  • Time Factors
  • Young Adult

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Immunology and Allergy
  • Immunology

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