Impact of pre-existing T cell immunity to SARS-CoV-2 in uninfected individuals with COVID-19 mortality in different countries

  1. Gennadi V. Glinsky

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Abstract

Several recent studies identified SARS-CoV-2 reactive T cells in people without exposure to the virus. However, pathophysiological implications of these findings remain unknown. Here, the potential impact of pre-existing T cell reactivity against SARS-CoV-2 in uninfected individuals on markedly different COVID-19 mortality levels in different countries has been investigated. The inverse correlation is documented between the prevalence of pre-existing SARS-CoV-2 reactive T cells in people without exposure to the virus and COVID-19 mortality rates in different countries. In countries with similar levels of pre-existing SARS-CoV-2 cross-reactive T cells in uninfected individuals, differences in COVID-19 mortality appear linked with the extend and consistency of implementations of social measures designed to limit the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 (lockdown; physical distancing; mask wearing). Collectively, these observations support the model that the level of pre-existing SARS-CoV-2 reactive T cells is one of the important determinants of the innate herd immunity against COVID-19. Together with the consistent social measures directed to limit the virus spread, high levels of pre-existing SARS-CoV-2 reactive T cells appear significant determinants diminishing the COVID-19 mortality. Observations reported in this contribution should have significant impact on definitions of the herd immunity threshold required to effectively stop the pandemic in different countries across the globe.

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    SciScore for 10.1101/2020.10.03.20206151: (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

    No key resources detected.

    Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).

    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: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.

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

    Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.

    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

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  2. Version published to 10.1101/2020.10.03.20206151 on medRxiv