Institute of Immunology and Immunotherapy, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK.
Immunisation and Countermeasures Division, National Infection Service, London, UK.
Nat Immunol. 2021 May;22(5):620-626. doi: 10.1038/s41590-021-00902-8. Epub 2021 Mar 5.
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.
针对 SARS-CoV-2 的免疫反应对控制疾病至关重要，但人们担心免疫减弱可能使机体易再次感染。我们分析了 100 名感染者在感染后 6 个月时针对 SARS-CoV-2 的特异性 T 细胞反应的幅度和表型。在所有供体中，通过 ELISPOT 和/或细胞内细胞因子染色分析均存在 T 细胞反应，并以强烈的白细胞介素 (IL)-2 细胞因子表达为主导的 CD4 T 细胞反应为特征。在经历有症状感染的供体中，T 细胞反应高 50%，表明原发性感染的严重程度为细胞免疫建立了“设定点”。刺突蛋白和核蛋白/膜蛋白的 T 细胞反应与抗体峰值水平相关。此外，核蛋白特异性 T 细胞水平较高与核蛋白特异性抗体水平的保持相关，尽管在与刺突蛋白特异性反应相关时未观察到这种相关性。总之，我们的数据令人安心，即感染后 6 个月时仍保留有针对 SARS-CoV-2 的功能性特异性 T 细胞反应。
