Department of Cancer Immunology, Institute for Cancer Research, Oslo University Hospital Radiumhospitalet, 0379 Oslo, Norway; Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, 0372 Oslo, Norway.
Department of Immunology, Oslo University Hospital, 0424 Oslo, Norway.
Cell Rep. 2023 Jan 31;42(1):111995. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2023.111995. Epub 2023 Jan 9.
The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOC) is driven by mutations that mediate escape from neutralizing antibodies. There is also evidence that mutations can cause loss of T cell epitopes. However, studies on viral escape from T cell immunity have been hampered by uncertain estimates of epitope prevalence. Here, we map and quantify CD8 T cell responses to SARS-CoV-2-specific minimal epitopes in blood drawn from April to June 2020 from 83 COVID-19 convalescents. Among 37 HLA ligands eluted from five prevalent alleles and an additional 86 predicted binders, we identify 29 epitopes with an immunoprevalence ranging from 3% to 100% among individuals expressing the relevant HLA allele. Mutations in VOC are reported in 10.3% of the epitopes, while 20.6% of the non-immunogenic peptides are mutated in VOC. The nine most prevalent epitopes are conserved in VOC. Thus, comprehensive mapping of epitope prevalence does not provide evidence that mutations in VOC are driven by escape of T cell immunity.
关注的 SARS-CoV-2 变异株（VOC）的出现是由介导中和抗体逃逸的突变驱动的。也有证据表明，突变会导致 T 细胞表位的丢失。然而，由于对表位流行率的估计不确定，病毒对 T 细胞免疫的逃逸研究受到了阻碍。在这里，我们对 2020 年 4 月至 6 月从 83 名 COVID-19 康复者的血液中提取的 SARS-CoV-2 特异性最小表位进行了映射和定量分析。在从五个常见等位基因洗脱的 37 个 HLA 配体和另外 86 个预测结合物中，我们确定了 29 个表位，在表达相关 HLA 等位基因的个体中，其免疫流行率范围为 3%至 100%。在报告的 VOC 突变中，有 10.3%的表位发生了突变，而在 VOC 中，20.6%的非免疫原性肽发生了突变。九个最常见的表位在 VOC 中是保守的。因此，全面映射表位流行率并不能证明 VOC 中的突变是由 T 细胞免疫逃逸驱动的。
