Cited by 393SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 ResearchCOVID-19 Clinical Research StudiesT-cell and B-cell Immunology

Robust SARS-CoV-2-specific T cell immunity is maintained at 6 months following primary infection

Open access
Zuo, Jianmin, Dowell, Alexander C., Pearce, Hayden, Verma, Kriti, Long, Heather M., Begum, Jusnara, Aiano, Felicity, Amin-Chowdhury, Zahin +16 more·2021·Nature Immunology

Published version of a preprint

Abstract

The immune response to SARS-CoV-2 is critical in controlling disease, but there is concern that waning immunity may predispose to reinfection. We analyzed the magnitude and phenotype of the SARS-CoV-2-specific T cell response in 100 donors at 6 months following infection. T cell responses were present by ELISPOT and/or intracellular cytokine staining analysis in all donors and characterized by predominant CD4+ T cell responses with strong interleukin (IL)-2 cytokine expression. Median T cell responses were 50% higher in donors who had experienced a symptomatic infection, indicating that the severity of primary infection establishes a 'set point' for cellular immunity. T cell responses to spike and nucleoprotein/membrane proteins were correlated with peak antibody levels. Furthermore, higher levels of nucleoprotein-specific T cells were associated with preservation of nucleoprotein-specific antibody level although no such correlation was observed in relation to spike-specific responses. In conclusion, our data are reassuring that functional SARS-CoV-2-specific T cell responses are retained at 6 months following infection.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1038/s41590-021-00902-8

Cites

41 of 41 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Using HLA class I and II predicted peptide megapools, circulating SARS-CoV-2-specific CD8+ and CD4+ T cells were identified in COVID-19 acute, mild and convalescent patients.

    “Using HLA class I and II predicted peptide “megapools,” circulating SARS-CoV-2-specific CD8+ and CD4+ T cells were identified in COVID-19 acute, mild and convalescent patients [110, 118-125].”

    From Guidelines for the use of flow cytometry and cell sorting in immunological studies (third edition) (2021) · cites this paper as [124]

    The Results (IL-2 production dominates SARS-CoV-2-specific T cell responses; page unavailable) identify SARS-CoV-2-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T cells. But Materials and Methods (Synthetic peptides) describes overlapping 15-mer peptide pools, not HLA class I- and II-predicted megapools; the cohort comprised convalescent donors sampled six months after infection, not patients sampled during acute illness (Results, Characteristics of enrolled donors; page unavailable). (LLM, conf=0.88)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • Documented reinfection and short-lived immunity to endemic human coronaviruses raise the prospect that protective immunity after SARS-CoV-2 infection may last months rather than years.

    “documented examples of SARS-CoV-2 reinfection as well as evidence of short-lived immunity to endemic human coronavirus (hCoV) infections raise the prospect that protective immunity after SARS-CoV-2 infection may last for months instead of years.”
  • Cellular immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 infection are generally more stable than antibody responses.

    “Cellular responses to infection seem to be generally more stable3,8,10 (Fig. 1) but their role in immune protection is not yet clear”

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Zuo, J., Dowell, A. C., Pearce, H., Verma, K., Long, H. M., Begum, J., Aiano, F., Amin-Chowdhury, Z., Hoschler, K., Brooks, T., Taylor, S., Hewson, J., Hallis, B., Stapley, L., Borrow, R., Linley, E., Ahmad, S., Parker, B., Horsley, A., Amirthalingam, G., Brown, K., Ramsay, M. E., Ladhani, S., & Moss, P.
Affiliations
  • University of Birmingham (GB)
  • Manchester Royal Infirmary (GB)
  • Manchester Academic Health Science Centre (GB)
  • Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (GB)
  • University of Manchester (GB)
  • St George's, University of London (GB)
Corresponding author
  • Ladhani, Shamez
  • Moss, Paul
Venue
Nature Immunology
Published
2021-03-05
Volume
22
Issue
5
Pages
620-626
ISSN
  • 1529-2908 (ISSN-L)
  • 1529-2916
OpenAlex
W3134099704
Cited by
392
References
39
Citations by year
2026: 10 · 2025: 31 · 2024: 37 · 2023: 56 · 2022: 115 · 2021: 137 · 2020: 6
FWCI
27.48
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Nature Immunology (publishedVersion)
  • bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) (acceptedVersion, cc-by-nd)
  • Research Square (acceptedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
  • University of Birmingham Research Portal (University of Birmingham) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • Research Explorer (The University of Manchester) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nd)
  • Research Explorer (The University of Manchester) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
Funders
  • RCUK | Medical Research Council (MR/R011230/1)
  • Bloodwise (17009)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Infectious Diseases › SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 Research
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Infectious Diseases › COVID-19 Clinical Research Studies
  • Life Sciences › Immunology and Microbiology › Immunology › T-cell and B-cell Immunology
Keywords
SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 pandemic, T cell immunity, CD4+ T cells, waning immunity, reinfection, interleukin-2, spike protein, nucleocapsid protein, membrane proteins, antibody kinetics, symptomatic infection, set point
MeSH terms
COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Adult, Aged, Antibodies, Viral, Antigens, Viral, Female, Humans, Immunity, Cellular, Interleukin-2, Male, Middle Aged, Phenotype, Time Factors, CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes, CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes, Host-Pathogen Interactions, Young Adult

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review