Frontiers in Medicine (Dec 2021)

T Cells Targeting SARS-CoV-2: By Infection, Vaccination, and Against Future Variants

  • Thi H. O. Nguyen,
  • Carolyn A. Cohen,
  • Louise C. Rowntree,
  • Maireid B. Bull,
  • Asmaa Hachim,
  • Katherine Kedzierska,
  • Sophie A. Valkenburg,
  • Sophie A. Valkenburg

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmed.2021.793102
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 8

Abstract

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T cell responses are a key cornerstone to viral immunity to drive high-quality antibody responses, establishing memory for recall and for viral clearance. Inefficient recruitment of T cell responses plays a role in the development of severe COVID-19 and is also represented by reduced cellular responses in men, children, and diversity compared with other epitope-specific subsets and available T cell receptor diversity. SARS-CoV-2-specific T cell responses are elicited by multiple vaccine formats and augmented by prior infection for hybrid immunity. Epitope conservation is relatively well-maintained leading to T cell crossreactivity for variants of concern that have diminished serological responses.

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