Scientists at the University of Oxford in the United States have proven that infection with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus in most cases causes the development of a stable T-cell immune response. The results of scientific work are published in the journal Nature Immunology.
While it is already known that a B-cell antibody response develops after infection with COVID-19, it was unclear if the pathogen could cause the immune system to produce virus-specific T cells that promote recovery and provide protection against subsequent infections.
Researchers analyzed blood samples from 14 severe COVID-19 patients and 28 people with mild symptoms to identify proteins containing epitopes – fragments that T cells specifically bind to. It turned out that people with mild COVID-19 had a different pattern of T-cell response compared to people with more severe infection.
Although a low-quality T-cell response may contribute to the persistence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and a high risk of death from COVID-19, recovered patients, regardless of the severity of the disease, still retained T-cell memory for two months after infection.
The researchers also found that the coronavirus S-protein is often recognized by the T cells of recovered patients, which confirms the effectiveness of the current vaccine development approaches. In addition, other parts of the virus, including its membrane and nucleoproteins, also elicit a strong T-cell immune response, which increases the number of potential vaccine targets.
