학술논문
Robust T Cell Response Toward Spike, Membrane, and Nucleocapsid SARS-CoV-2 Proteins Is Not Associated with Recovery in Critical COVID-19 Patients
Document Type
article
Author
Constantin J. Thieme; Moritz Anft; Krystallenia Paniskaki; Arturo Blazquez-Navarro; Adrian Doevelaar; Felix S. Seibert; Bodo Hoelzer; Margarethe Justine Konik; Marc Moritz Berger; Thorsten Brenner; Clemens Tempfer; Carsten Watzl; Toni L. Meister; Stephanie Pfaender; Eike Steinmann; Sebastian Dolff; Ulf Dittmer; Timm H. Westhoff; Oliver Witzke; Ulrik Stervbo; Toralf Roch; Nina Babel
Source
Cell Reports Medicine, Vol 1, Iss 6, Pp 100092- (2020)
Subject
Language
English
ISSN
2666-3791
Abstract
Summary: T cell immunity toward SARS-CoV-2 spike (S-), membrane (M-), and nucleocapsid (N-) proteins may define COVID-19 severity. Therefore, we compare the SARS-CoV-2-reactive T cell responses in moderate, severe, and critical COVID-19 patients and unexposed donors. Overlapping peptide pools of all three proteins induce SARS-CoV-2-reactive T cell response with dominance of CD4+ over CD8+ T cells and demonstrate interindividual immunity against the three proteins. M-protein induces the highest frequencies of CD4+ T cells, suggesting its relevance for diagnosis and vaccination. The T cell response of critical COVID-19 patients is robust and comparable or even superior to non-critical patients. Virus clearance and COVID-19 survival are not associated with either SARS-CoV-2 T cell kinetics or magnitude of T cell responses, respectively. Thus, our data do not support the hypothesis of insufficient SARS-CoV-2-reactive immunity in critical COVID-19. Conversely, it indicates that activation of differentiated memory effector T cells could cause hyperreactivity and immunopathogenesis in critical patients.