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Int J Infect Dis
. 2021 Sep 30;S1201-9712(21)00778-5.
doi: 10.1016/j.ijid.2021.09.073. Online ahead of print.
Performance of the T-SPOT®.COVID test for detecting SARS-CoV-2-responsive T cells
Margaret Kruse 1 , Chris Dark 2 , Megan Aspden 3 , Daniel Cochrane 4 , Rick Competiello 5 , Maya Peltz 6 , Luis Torres 7 , Peter Wrighton-Smith 8 , Magdalena Dudek 9
Affiliations
- PMID: 34601143
- DOI: 10.1016/j.ijid.2021.09.073
Abstract
Objective: This study evaluated the performance of the T-SPOT.COVID test for identifying SARS-CoV-2-responsive T-cells in subjects with SARS-CoV-2 infections.
Methods: The T-SPOT.COVID test uses ELISpot interferon-gamma release assay (IGRA) methodology to measure T cell responses to SARS-CoV-2 spike S1 and nucleocapsid peptides. T-SPOT.COVID and anti-N IgG serology tests were performed on blood from 186 subjects with NAAT-confirmed-SARS-CoV-2 infections and 100 control subjects.
Results: In the 2-8 week-period after NAAT-diagnosed SARS-CoV-2 infection, the T-SPOT.COVID test detected 98.4% (63/64) of infected subjects; in comparison, anti-N IgG serology detected fewer in this time period (82.8%, 53/64). In the first 2 weeks after diagnosis, during activation of the adaptive immune response, there were fewer reactive T-SPOT.COVID responses (75.7%, 28/37) and many fewer seropositive responses (32.4%, 12/37). Response numbers tapered somewhat after 8 weeks, although T-SPOT.COVID test continued to detect most of the confirmed-infection subjects (83.6%, 56/67) and continued to out-perform serology (52.2%, 35/67). The possibility of T-SPOT.COVID responses due to cross-reactive T cells was ruled out by demonstrating that, of 44 control subjects with T cells responsive to four human common cold coronavirus peptides, only 1 was T-SPOT.COVID reactive.
Conclusion: The T-SPOT.COVID test performed well in detecting SARS-CoV-2-sensitized T-cells over many months.
Keywords: COVID-19; IGRA; SARS-CoV-2; T-SPOT.COVID; interferon gamma-release assay; serology.