Kim A-Reum, Koh June-Young, Rha Min-Seok, Jung Jae Hyung, Ko Jae-Hoon, Choi Hee Kyoung, Jeon Ji Hoon, Seok Hyeri, Park Dae Won, Peck Kyong Ran, Choi Jun Yong, Park Su-Hyung, Choi Won Suk, Jeong Hye Won, Shin Eui-Cheol
The Center for Viral Immunology, Korea Virus Research Institute, Institute for Basic Science (IBS), Daejeon 34126, Korea.
Graduate School of Medical Science and Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon 34141, Korea.
Immune Netw. 2025 Feb 7;25(2):e4. doi: 10.4110/in.2025.25.e4. eCollection 2025 Apr.
Herein, we found that severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)-unexposed individuals exhibited an increased frequency of CD4 T cells against SARS-CoV-2 membrane (M) protein, suggesting that SARS-CoV-2 M-reactive cells may be primed by previous infection with common cold coronaviruses (CCCoVs). We confirmed that CCCoV M-reactive CD4 T cells cross-recognize SARS-CoV-2 M in unexposed individuals. Among coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) convalescents and unexposed individuals, SARS-CoV-2 M-reactive CD4 T cells exhibited significantly lower functional avidity than CD4 T cells reactive to other viruses. Importantly, convalescents from mild COVID-19 had SARS-CoV-2 M-reactive CD4 T cells with significantly lower functional avidity than convalescents from severe COVID-19. The current data suggest that pre-existing CCCoV M-specific memory CD4 T cells may contribute to controlling SARS-CoV-2 infection by cross-reactivity, leading to mild disease but leaving memory cells with low functional avidity to SARS-CoV-2 M due to incomplete homology. These data provide indirect evidence that pre-existing cross-reactive CD4 T cells contribute to protection from severe COVID-19.
在此,我们发现未接触过严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒2(SARS-CoV-2)的个体中,针对SARS-CoV-2膜(M)蛋白的CD4 T细胞频率增加,这表明SARS-CoV-2 M反应性细胞可能是由先前感染普通感冒冠状病毒(CCCoV)而致敏的。我们证实,在未接触过病毒的个体中,CCCoV M反应性CD4 T细胞可交叉识别SARS-CoV-2 M。在2019冠状病毒病(COVID-19)康复者和未接触过病毒的个体中,SARS-CoV-2 M反应性CD4 T细胞的功能亲和力显著低于对其他病毒有反应的CD4 T细胞。重要的是,轻症COVID-19康复者的SARS-CoV-2 M反应性CD4 T细胞功能亲和力明显低于重症COVID-19康复者。目前的数据表明,预先存在的CCCoV M特异性记忆CD4 T细胞可能通过交叉反应有助于控制SARS-CoV-2感染,导致轻症疾病,但由于同源性不完全,使得记忆细胞对SARS-CoV-2 M的功能亲和力较低。这些数据提供了间接证据,表明预先存在的交叉反应性CD4 T细胞有助于预防重症COVID-19。