Children and Adults With Mild COVID-19: Dynamics of the Memory T Cell Response up to 10 Months.
Front Immunol
; 13: 817876, 2022.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1902979
ABSTRACT
Background:
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) has led to considerable morbidity/mortality worldwide, but most infections, especially among children, have a mild course. However, it remains largely unknown whether infected children develop cellular immune memory.Methods:
To determine whether a memory T cell response is being developed, we performed a longitudinal assessment of the SARS-CoV-2-specific T cell response by IFN-γ ELISPOT and activation marker analyses of peripheral blood samples from unvaccinated children and adults with mild-to-moderate COVID-19.Results:
Upon stimulation of PBMCs with heat-inactivated SARS-CoV-2 or overlapping peptides of spike (S-SARS-CoV-2) and nucleocapsid proteins, we found S-SARS-CoV-2-specific IFN-γ T cell responses in infected children (83%) and adults (100%) that were absent in unexposed controls. Frequencies of SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells were higher in infected adults, especially several cases with moderate symptoms, compared to infected children. The S-SARS-CoV-2 IFN-γ T cell response correlated with S1-SARS-CoV-2-specific serum antibody concentrations. Predominantly, effector memory CD4+ T cells of a Th1 phenotype were activated upon exposure to SARS-CoV-2 antigens. Frequencies of SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells were significantly reduced at 10 months after symptom onset, while S1-SARS-CoV-2-specific IgG concentrations were still detectable in 90% of all children and adults.Conclusions:
Our data indicate that an antigen-specific T cell and antibody response is developed after mild SARS-CoV-2 infection in children and adults. It remains to be elucidated to what extent this SARS-CoV-2-specific response can contribute to an effective recall response after reinfection.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Th1 Cells
/
SARS-CoV-2
/
COVID-19
/
Memory T Cells
/
Immunologic Memory
Type of study:
Cohort study
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Limits:
Adolescent
/
Adult
/
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Language:
English
Journal:
Front Immunol
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Fimmu.2022.817876
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