SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells exhibit phenotypic features reflecting robust helper function, lack of terminal differentiation, and high proliferative potential

  1. Jason Neidleman
  2. Xiaoyu Luo
  3. Julie Frouard
  4. Guorui Xie
  5. Gurjot Gill
  6. Ellen S. Stein
  7. Matthew McGregor
  8. Tongcui Ma
  9. Ashley F. George
  10. Astrid Kosters
  11. Warner C. Greene
  12. Joshua Vasquez
  13. Eliver Ghosn
  14. Sulggi Lee
  15. Nadia R. Roan

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Abstract

Convalescing COVID-19 patients mount robust T cell responses against SARS-CoV-2, suggesting an important role for T cells in viral clearance. To date, the phenotypes of SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells remain poorly defined. Using 38-parameter CyTOF, we phenotyped longitudinal specimens of SARS-CoV-2-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T cells from nine individuals who recovered from mild COVID-19. SARS-CoV-2-specific CD4+ T cells were exclusively Th1 cells, and predominantly Tcm with phenotypic features of robust helper function. SARS-CoV-2-specific CD8+ T cells were predominantly Temra cells in a state of less terminal differentiation than most Temra cells. Subsets of SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells express CD127, can homeostatically proliferate, and can persist for over two months. Our results suggest that long-lived and robust T cell immunity is generated following natural SARS-CoV-2 infection, and support an important role for SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells in host control of COVID-19.

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  1. ScreenIT

    SciScore for 10.1101/2020.06.08.138826: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    Institutional Review Board Statementnot detected.
    Randomizationnot detected.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.
    Sex as a biological variablenot detected.

    Table 2: Resources

    Antibodies
    SentencesResources
    For detection of antigen-specific T cells, 0.5 μg/ml anti-CD49d clone L25 and 0.5 μg/ml anti-CD28 clone L293 (both from BD Biosciences) were added as a source of co-stimulation, in the presence of 0.5 μm PepMix™ SARS-CoV-2 Peptide (Spike Glycoprotein) (JPT Peptide Technologies), human CMV pp65 Peptide Pool (NIH AIDS Reagent Program), or Influenza Virus Control Peptide Pool (Anaspec).
    anti-CD28
    suggested: None
    Software and Algorithms
    SentencesResources
    Data export was conducted using FlowJo (BD Biosciences) and Cytobank software.
    FlowJo
    suggested: (FlowJo, RRID:SCR_008520)
    Cytobank
    suggested: (Cytobank, RRID:SCR_014043)

    Results from OddPub: Thank you for sharing your data.

    Results from LimitationRecognizer: An explicit section about the limitations of the techniques employed in this study was not found. We encourage authors to address study limitations.

    Results from TrialIdentifier: We found the following clinical trial numbers in your paper:

    IdentifierStatusTitle
    NCT04379076RecruitingInterLeukin-7 (CYT107) to Improve Clinical Outcomes in Lymph…

    Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.

    Results from JetFighter: Please consider improving the rainbow (“jet”) colormap(s) used on page 45. At least one figure is not accessible to readers with colorblindness and/or is not true to the data, i.e. not perceptually uniform.

    Results from rtransparent:
    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • No protocol registration statement was detected.

    About SciScore

    SciScore is an automated tool that is designed to assist expert reviewers by finding and presenting formulaic information scattered throughout a paper in a standard, easy to digest format. SciScore checks for the presence and correctness of RRIDs (research resource identifiers), and for rigor criteria such as sex and investigator blinding. For details on the theoretical underpinning of rigor criteria and the tools shown here, including references cited, please follow this link.

  2. Version published to 10.1101/2020.06.08.138826 on bioRxiv