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Oxford University Press, Clinical Infectious Diseases, 1(75), p. e1-e9, 2022

DOI: 10.1093/cid/ciac278

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Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)–Specific T Cells and Antibodies in Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Protection: A Prospective Study

Journal article published in 2022 by Ivan A. Molodtsov, Evgenii Kegeles, Alexander N. Mitin, Olga Mityaeva ORCID, Oksana E. Musatova, Anna E. Panova, Mikhail V. Pashenkov, Iuliia O. Peshkova, Almaqdad Alsalloum, Walaa Asaad, Anna S. Budikhina, Alexander S. Deryabin, Inna V. Dolzhikova, Ioanna N. Filimonova, Alexandra N. Gracheva and other authors.
This paper was not found in any repository, but could be made available legally by the author.
This paper was not found in any repository, but could be made available legally by the author.

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Abstract

Abstract Background During the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, many individuals were infected with and have cleared the virus, developing virus-specific antibodies and effector/memory T cells. An important unanswered question is what levels of T-cell and antibody responses are sufficient to protect from the infection. Methods In 5340 Moscow residents, we evaluated anti–severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) immunoglobulin M (IgM)/immunoglobulin G (IgG) titers and frequencies of the T cells specific to the membrane, nucleocapsid, and spike proteins of SARS-CoV-2, using interferon gamma (IFN-γ) enzyme-linked immunosorbent spot (ELISpot) assay. Additionally, we evaluated the fractions of virus-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T cells using intracellular staining of IFN-γ and interleukin 2 followed by flow cytometry. We analyzed the COVID-19 rates as a function of the assessed antibody and T-cell responses, using the Kaplan–Meier estimator method, for up to 300 days postinclusion. Results We showed that T-cell and antibody responses are closely interconnected and are commonly induced concurrently. Magnitudes of both responses inversely correlated with infection probability. Individuals positive for both responses demonstrated the highest levels of protectivity against the SARS-CoV-2 infection. A comparable level of protection was found in individuals with antibody response only, whereas the T-cell response by itself granted only intermediate protection. Conclusions We found that the contribution of the virus-specific antibodies to protection against SARS-CoV-2 infection is more pronounced than that of the T cells. The data on the virus-specific IgG titers may be instructive for making decisions in personalized healthcare and public anti–COVID-19 policies. Clinical Trials Registration. NCT04898140.