The Chinese PLA Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 100071, Beijing, China.
State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Disease, National Clinical Research Centre for Respiratory Disease, Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Health, the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, 510182, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.
Signal Transduct Target Ther. 2023 Mar 15;8(1):123. doi: 10.1038/s41392-023-01345-3.
Persistent asymptomatic (PA) SARS-CoV-2 infections have been identified. The immune responses in these patients are unclear, and the development of effective treatments for these patients is needed. Here, we report a cohort of 23 PA cases carrying viral RNA for up to 191 days. PA cases displayed low levels of inflammatory and interferon response, weak antibody response, diminished circulating follicular helper T cells (cTfh), and inadequate specific CD4 and CD8 T-cell responses during infection, which is distinct from symptomatic infections and resembling impaired immune activation. Administration of a single dose of Ad5-nCoV vaccine to 10 of these PA cases elicited rapid and robust antibody responses as well as coordinated B-cell and cTfh responses, resulting in successful viral clearance. Vaccine-induced antibodies were able to neutralize various variants of concern and persisted for over 6 months, indicating long-term protection. Therefore, our study provides an insight into the immune status of PA infections and highlights vaccination as a potential treatment for prolonged SARS-CoV-2 infections.
已发现持续性无症状（PA）SARS-CoV-2 感染病例。这些患者的免疫反应尚不清楚，需要为这些患者开发有效的治疗方法。在这里，我们报告了一组 23 例携带病毒 RNA 长达 191 天的 PA 病例。PA 病例在感染期间表现出低水平的炎症和干扰素反应、弱抗体反应、循环滤泡辅助 T 细胞（cTfh）减少以及特异性 CD4 和 CD8 T 细胞反应不足，与有症状感染不同，类似于免疫激活受损。对其中 10 例 PA 病例单次给予 Ad5-nCoV 疫苗接种可引发快速而强烈的抗体反应以及协调的 B 细胞和 cTfh 反应，从而成功清除病毒。疫苗诱导的抗体能够中和各种关注的变体，并持续超过 6 个月，表明具有长期保护作用。因此，我们的研究提供了对 PA 感染免疫状态的深入了解，并强调了疫苗接种作为治疗持续性 SARS-CoV-2 感染的潜在方法。
