tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
Sci Transl Med
. 2021 Mar 15;eabf7517.
doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.abf7517. Online ahead of print.
T cell and antibody kinetics delineate SARS-CoV-2 peptides mediating long-term immune responses in COVID-19 convalescent individuals
Tatjana Bilich[SUP] #[/SUP][SUP] 1 2 3 [/SUP], Annika Nelde[SUP] #[/SUP][SUP] 1 2 3 [/SUP], Jonas S Heitmann[SUP] #[/SUP][SUP] 1 3 [/SUP], Yacine Maringer[SUP] 1 2 3 [/SUP], Malte Roerden[SUP] 2 3 4 [/SUP], Jens Bauer[SUP] 1 2 [/SUP], Jonas Rieth[SUP] 1 2 [/SUP], Marcel Wacker[SUP] 5 [/SUP], Sebastian H?rber[SUP] 5 [/SUP], David Rachfalski[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Melanie M?rklin[SUP] 1 3 [/SUP], Stefan Stevanovi?[SUP] 2 3 6 [/SUP], Hans-Georg Rammensee[SUP] 2 3 6 [/SUP], Helmut R Salih[SUP] 1 3 6 [/SUP], Juliane S Walz[SUP] 7 2 3 8 [/SUP]
Affiliations
Abstract
Long-term immunological memory to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is crucial for the development of population-level immunity, which is the aim of vaccination approaches. Reports on rapidly decreasing antibody titers have led to questions regarding the efficacy of humoral immunity alone. The relevance of T cell memory after coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) remains unclear. Here, we investigated SARS-CoV-2 antibody and T cell responses in matched samples of COVID-19 convalescent individuals up to six months post-infection. Longitudinal analysis revealed decreasing and stable spike- and nucleocapsid-specific antibody responses, respectively. In contrast, functional T cell responses remained robust, and even increased, in both frequency and intensity. Single peptide mapping of T cell diversity over time identified open reading frame-independent, dominant T cell epitopes mediating long-term SARS-CoV-2 T cell responses. Identification of these epitopes may be fundamental for COVID-19 vaccine design.
. 2021 Mar 15;eabf7517.
doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.abf7517. Online ahead of print.
T cell and antibody kinetics delineate SARS-CoV-2 peptides mediating long-term immune responses in COVID-19 convalescent individuals
Tatjana Bilich[SUP] #[/SUP][SUP] 1 2 3 [/SUP], Annika Nelde[SUP] #[/SUP][SUP] 1 2 3 [/SUP], Jonas S Heitmann[SUP] #[/SUP][SUP] 1 3 [/SUP], Yacine Maringer[SUP] 1 2 3 [/SUP], Malte Roerden[SUP] 2 3 4 [/SUP], Jens Bauer[SUP] 1 2 [/SUP], Jonas Rieth[SUP] 1 2 [/SUP], Marcel Wacker[SUP] 5 [/SUP], Sebastian H?rber[SUP] 5 [/SUP], David Rachfalski[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Melanie M?rklin[SUP] 1 3 [/SUP], Stefan Stevanovi?[SUP] 2 3 6 [/SUP], Hans-Georg Rammensee[SUP] 2 3 6 [/SUP], Helmut R Salih[SUP] 1 3 6 [/SUP], Juliane S Walz[SUP] 7 2 3 8 [/SUP]
Affiliations
- PMID: 33723016
- DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.abf7517
Abstract
Long-term immunological memory to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is crucial for the development of population-level immunity, which is the aim of vaccination approaches. Reports on rapidly decreasing antibody titers have led to questions regarding the efficacy of humoral immunity alone. The relevance of T cell memory after coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) remains unclear. Here, we investigated SARS-CoV-2 antibody and T cell responses in matched samples of COVID-19 convalescent individuals up to six months post-infection. Longitudinal analysis revealed decreasing and stable spike- and nucleocapsid-specific antibody responses, respectively. In contrast, functional T cell responses remained robust, and even increased, in both frequency and intensity. Single peptide mapping of T cell diversity over time identified open reading frame-independent, dominant T cell epitopes mediating long-term SARS-CoV-2 T cell responses. Identification of these epitopes may be fundamental for COVID-19 vaccine design.