Highly functional virus-specific cellular immune response in asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection

The efficacy of virus-specific T cells in clearing pathogens involves a fine balance between antiviral and inflammatory features. SARS-CoV-2–specific T cells in individuals who clear SARS-CoV-2 without symptoms could reveal nonpathological yet protective characteristics. We longitudinally studied SA...

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Published inThe Journal of experimental medicine Vol. 218; no. 5
Main Authors Le Bert, Nina, Clapham, Hannah E., Tan, Anthony T., Chia, Wan Ni, Tham, Christine Y.L., Lim, Jane M., Kunasegaran, Kamini, Tan, Linda Wei Lin, Dutertre, Charles-Antoine, Shankar, Nivedita, Lim, Joey M.E., Sun, Louisa Jin, Zahari, Marina, Tun, Zaw Myo, Kumar, Vishakha, Lim, Beng Lee, Lim, Siew Hoon, Chia, Adeline, Tan, Yee-Joo, Tambyah, Paul Anantharajah, Kalimuddin, Shirin, Lye, David, Low, Jenny G.H., Wang, Lin-Fa, Wan, Wei Yee, Hsu, Li Yang, Bertoletti, Antonio, Tam, Clarence C.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States Rockefeller University Press 03.05.2021
Subjects
Adult
Asymptomatic Infections
COVID-19 - blood
COVID-19 - immunology
Cytokines - blood
Cytokines - immunology
Humans
Infectious Disease and Host Defense
Lymphocyte Activation
Male
Middle Aged
SARS-CoV-2 - immunology
SARS-CoV-2 - metabolism
T-Lymphocytes - immunology
T-Lymphocytes - metabolism
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Summary:The efficacy of virus-specific T cells in clearing pathogens involves a fine balance between antiviral and inflammatory features. SARS-CoV-2–specific T cells in individuals who clear SARS-CoV-2 without symptoms could reveal nonpathological yet protective characteristics. We longitudinally studied SARS-CoV-2–specific T cells in a cohort of asymptomatic (n = 85) and symptomatic (n = 75) COVID-19 patients after seroconversion. We quantified T cells reactive to structural proteins (M, NP, and Spike) using ELISpot and cytokine secretion in whole blood. Frequencies of SARS-CoV-2–specific T cells were similar between asymptomatic and symptomatic individuals, but the former showed an increased IFN-γ and IL-2 production. This was associated with a proportional secretion of IL-10 and proinflammatory cytokines (IL-6, TNF-α, and IL-1β) only in asymptomatic infection, while a disproportionate secretion of inflammatory cytokines was triggered by SARS-CoV-2–specific T cell activation in symptomatic individuals. Thus, asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2–infected individuals are not characterized by weak antiviral immunity; on the contrary, they mount a highly functional virus-specific cellular immune response.
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A. Bertoletti and C.C. Tam contributed equally to this paper.
Disclosures: N. Le Bert and A.T. Tan reported a patent for a method to monitor SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells in biological samples pending. W.N. Chia reported a patent for a sublicense agreement with GenScript for the surrogate virus neutralization test pending (Duke-NUS). P. Tambyah reported grants from Arcturus, Roche, Shionogi, Sanofi-Pasteur, and Aj Biologics outside the submitted work. L. Wang reported a patent application on sVNT pending. A. Bertoletti reported personal fees from Oxford Immunotech and Qiagen outside the submitted work; in addition, A. Bertoletti had a patent for the use of peptide pools in whole blood for detection of SARS-CoV-2 T cells pending. C.C. Tam reported grants from Roche and personal fees from Verivax outside the submitted work. No other disclosures were reported.
ISSN:0022-1007
1540-9538
1540-9538
DOI:10.1084/jem.20202617