Multiple questions about SARS-CoV-2 humoral and cellular immunity remain unanswered. One key question is whether preexisting memory T or B cells, specific for related coronaviruses in SARS-CoV-2-unexposed individuals, can recognize and suppress COVID-19, but this issue remains unclear. Here, we demonstrate that antibody responses to SARS-CoV-2 antigens are restricted to serum samples from COVID-19 convalescent individuals. In contrast, cross-reactive T cell proliferation and IFN-γ production responses were detected in PBMCs of around 30% of donor samples collected prepandemic, although we found that these prepandemic T cell responses only elicited weak cT activation upon stimulation with either HCoV-OC43 or SARS-CoV-2 NP protein. Overall, these observations confirm that T cell cross-reactive with SARS-CoV-2 antigens are present in unexposed people, but suggest that the T cell response to HCoV-OC43 could be deficient in some important aspects, like T expansion, that might compromise the generation of cross-reactive T cells and antibodies. Understanding these differences in cellular responses may be of critical importance to advance in our knowledge of immunity against SARS-CoV-2.
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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9088540 | PMC |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/JLB.4COVCRA0721-356RRR | DOI Listing |
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