1. Healthy donor T cell responses to common cold coronaviruses and SARS-CoV-2
- Author
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Woldemeskel, Bezawit A., Kwaa, Abena K., Garliss, Caroline C., Laeyendecker, Oliver, Ray, Stuart C., and Blankson, Joel N.
- Subjects
Coronavirus infections -- Development and progression -- Care and treatment ,Immune response -- Testing ,T cells -- Health aspects ,Health care industry - Abstract
BACKGROUND. T cell responses to the common cold coronaviruses have not been well characterized. Preexisting T cell immunity to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has been reported, and a recent study suggested that this immunity was due to cross-recognition of the novel coronavirus by T cells specific for the common cold coronaviruses. METHODS. We used the enzyme-linked immunospot (ELISPOT) assay to characterize the T cell responses against peptide pools derived from the spike protein of 3 common cold coronaviruses (HCoV-229E, HCoV-NL63, and HCoV-OC43) and SARS-CoV-2 in 21 healthy donors (HDs) who were seronegative for SARS-CoV-2 and had no known exposure to the virus. An in vitro expansion culture assay was also used to analyze memory T cell responses. RESULTS. We found responses to the spike protein of the 3 common cold coronaviruses in many of the donors. We then focused on HCoV-NL63 and detected broad T cell responses to the spike protein and identified 22 targeted peptides. Interestingly, only 1 study participant had a significant response to SARS-CoV-2 spike or nucleocapsid protein in the ELISPOT assay. In vitro expansion studies suggested that T cells specific for the HCoV-NL63 spike protein in this individual could also recognize SARS-CoV-2 spike protein peptide pools. CONCLUSION. HDs have circulating T cells specific for the spike proteins of HCoV-NL63, HCoV-229E, and HCoV-OC43. T cell responses to SARS-CoV-2 spike and nucleocapsid proteins were present in only 1 participant and were potentially the result of cross-recognition by T cells specific for the common cold coronaviruses. Further studies are needed to determine whether this cross-recognition influences coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outcomes., Introduction There are 4 known human common cold coronaviruses (HCoV) that cause mild respiratory disease: HCoV-NL63, HCoV-229E, HCoV-OC43, and HCoV-HKU1 (1). Seroprevalence studies show that a large percentage of adults [...]
- Published
- 2020
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