학술논문
Rapid, scalable assessment of SARS-CoV-2 cellular immunity by whole-blood PCR
Document Type
Original Paper
Author
Schwarz, Megan; Torre, Denis; Lozano-Ojalvo, Daniel; Tan, Anthony T.; Tabaglio, Tommaso; Mzoughi, Slim; Sanchez-Tarjuelo, Rodrigo; Le Bert, Nina; Lim, Joey Ming Er; Hatem, Sandra; Tuballes, Kevin; Camara, Carmen; Lopez-Granados, Eduardo; Paz-Artal, Estela; Correa-Rocha, Rafael; Ortiz, Alberto; Lopez-Hoyos, Marcos; Portoles, Jose; Cervera, Isabel; Gonzalez-Perez, Maria; Bodega-Mayor, Irene; Conde, Patricia; Oteo-Iglesias, Jesús; Borobia, Alberto M.; Carcas, Antonio J.; Frías, Jesús; Belda-Iniesta, Cristóbal; Ho, Jessica S. Y.; Nunez, Kemuel; Hekmaty, Saboor; Mohammed, Kevin; Marsiglia, William M.; Carreño, Juan Manuel; Dar, Arvin C.; Berin, Cecilia; Nicoletti, Giuseppe; Della Noce, Isabella; Colombo, Lorenzo; Lapucci, Cristina; Santoro, Graziano; Ferrari, Maurizio; Nie, Kai; Patel, Manishkumar; Barcessat, Vanessa; Gnjatic, Sacha; Harris, Jocelyn; Sebra, Robert; Merad, Miriam; Krammer, Florian; Kim-schulze, Seunghee; Marazzi, Ivan; Bertoletti, Antonio; Ochando, Jordi; Guccione, Ernesto
Source
Nature Biotechnology: The Science and Business of Biotechnology. 40(11):1680-1689
Subject
Language
English
ISSN
1087-0156
1546-1696
1546-1696
Abstract
Fast, high-throughput methods for measuring the level and duration of protective immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 are needed to anticipate the risk of breakthrough infections. Here we report the development of two quantitative PCR assays for SARS-CoV-2-specific T cell activation. The assays are rapid, internally normalized and probe-based: qTACT requires RNA extraction and dqTACT avoids sample preparation steps. Both assays rely on the quantification of CXCL10 messenger RNA, a chemokine whose expression is strongly correlated with activation of antigen-specific T cells. On restimulation of whole-blood cells with SARS-CoV-2 viral antigens, viral-specific T cells secrete IFN-γ, which stimulates monocytes to produce CXCL10. CXCL10 mRNA can thus serve as a proxy to quantify cellular immunity. Our assays may allow large-scale monitoring of the magnitude and duration of functional T cell immunity to SARS-CoV-2, thus helping to prioritize revaccination strategies in vulnerable populations.
The T cell response to SARS-CoV-2 is detected by a PCR assay on whole blood.
The T cell response to SARS-CoV-2 is detected by a PCR assay on whole blood.