Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

SARS-CoV-2-derived peptides define heterologous and COVID-19-induced T cell recognition

2020; Nature Portfolio; Volume: 22; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1038/s41590-020-00808-x

1529-2916

Annika Nelde, Tatjana Bilich, Jonas S. Heitmann, Yacine Maringer, Helmut R. Salih, Malte Roerden, Maren Lübke, Jens Bauer, Jonas Rieth, Marcel Wacker, Andreas Peter, Sebastian Hörber, Bjoern Traenkle, Philipp D. Kaiser, Ulrich Rothbauer, Matthias Becker, Daniel Junker, Gérard Krause, Monika Strengert, Nicole Schneiderhan‐Marra, Markus F. Templin, Thomas Joos, Daniel J. Kowalewski, Vlatka Stos‐Zweifel, Michael Fehr, Armin Rabsteyn, Valbona Mirakaj, Julia Karbach, Elke Jäger, Michael D. Graf, Lena-Christin Gruber, David Rachfalski, Beate Preuß, Ilona Hagelstein, Melanie Märklin, Tamam Bakchoul, Cécile Gouttefangeas, Oliver Kohlbacher, Reinhild Klein, Stefan Stevanović, Hans-Georg Rammensee, Juliane S. Walz,

vaccines and immunoinformatics approaches

T cell immunity is central for the control of viral infections. To characterize T cell immunity, but also for the development of vaccines, identification of exact viral T cell epitopes is fundamental. Here we identify and characterize multiple dominant and subdominant SARS-CoV-2 HLA class I and HLA-DR peptides as potential T cell epitopes in COVID-19 convalescent and unexposed individuals. SARS-CoV-2-specific peptides enabled detection of post-infectious T cell immunity, even in seronegative convalescent individuals. Cross-reactive SARS-CoV-2 peptides revealed pre-existing T cell responses in 81% of unexposed individuals and validated similarity with common cold coronaviruses, providing a functional basis for heterologous immunity in SARS-CoV-2 infection. Diversity of SARS-CoV-2 T cell responses was associated with mild symptoms of COVID-19, providing evidence that immunity requires recognition of multiple epitopes. Together, the proposed SARS-CoV-2 T cell epitopes enable identification of heterologous and post-infectious T cell immunity and facilitate development of diagnostic, preventive and therapeutic measures for COVID-19. SARS-CoV-2-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T cell epitopes are found in both convalescent patients and virus-naive volunteers and are indicative of heterologous recognition shared with seasonal cold viruses.