Institute of Biomedicine, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.
Department of Infectious Diseases, Turku University Hospital and University of Turku, Turku, Finland.
Front Immunol. 2022 Apr 22;13:869990. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2022.869990. eCollection 2022.
The emergence of novel variants of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has made it more difficult to prevent the virus from spreading despite available vaccines. Reports of breakthrough infections and decreased capacity of antibodies to neutralize variants raise the question whether current vaccines can still protect against COVID-19 disease. We studied the dynamics and persistence of T cell responses using activation induced marker (AIM) assay and Th1 type cytokine production in peripheral blood mononuclear cells obtained from BNT162b2 COVID-19 mRNA vaccinated health care workers and COVID-19 patients. We demonstrate that equally high T cell responses following vaccination and infection persist at least for 6 months against Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta variants despite the decline in antibody levels.
新型严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒 2 （SARS-CoV-2）变体的出现，使得即使有可用疫苗，也更难防止病毒传播。突破性感染的报告和抗体中和变体能力的下降，引发了一个问题，即当前的疫苗是否仍能预防 COVID-19 疾病。我们使用激活诱导标志物（AIM）测定法和外周血单个核细胞中 Th1 型细胞因子产生，研究了 BNT162b2 COVID-19 mRNA 接种的医护人员和 COVID-19 患者中的 T 细胞反应的动态和持久性。我们证明，尽管抗体水平下降，但接种疫苗和感染后同样高的 T 细胞反应至少持续 6 个月，可对抗 Alpha、Beta、Gamma 和 Delta 变体。
