March 8, 2021

Robust SARS-CoV-2-Specific T Cell Immunity Is Maintained at 6 Months Following Primary Infection

Category: Article Summary

Topic: Vaccines and Immunity

Keywords (Tags): immunity

• Functional SARS-CoV-2-specific T cell responses were retained 6 months after initial SARS-CoV-2 infection among 100 convalescent donors between March and April 2020. Interferon (IFN)-γ ELISPOT analysis was used to determine the magnitude of the T cell response. Cell responses were present among 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 an initial symptomatic infection, and T cell responses to spike and nucleoprotein/membrane proteins correlated with peak antibody levels. In addition, higher levels of nucleoprotein-specific T cells were associated with preservation of nucleoprotein-specific antibody level.

Zuo et al. (Mar 5, 2021). Robust SARS-CoV-2-Specific T Cell Immunity Is Maintained at 6 Months Following Primary Infection. Nature Immunology. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41590-021-00902-8