Abstract
SARS-CoV-2 represents an unprecedented public health challenge. While the majority of SARS-CoV-2-infected individuals with mild-to-moderate COVID-19 resolve their infection with few complications, some individuals experience prolonged symptoms lasting for weeks after initial diagnosis. Persistent viral infections are commonly accompanied by immunologic dysregulation, but it is unclear if persistent COVID-19 impacts the development of virus-specific cellular immunity. To this end, we analyzed SARS-CoV-2-specific cellular immunity in convalescent COVID-19 patients who experienced eight days or fewer of COVID-19 symptoms or symptoms persisting for 18 days or more. We observed that persistent COVID-19 symptoms were not associated with the development of an overtly dysregulated cellular immune response. Furthermore, we observed that reactivity against the N protein from SARS-CoV-2 correlates with the amount of reactivity against the seasonal human coronaviruses 229E and NL63. These results provide insight into the processes that regulate the development of cellular immunity against SARS-CoV-2 and related human coronaviruses.
Highlights
IntroductionDecember 2019 [1,2,3]
COVID-19 symptoms that result from acute SARS-CoV-2 infection is associated with the development of a dysfunctional or sub-optimal cellular immune response. To fill this knowledge gap, we examined the relationship between the duration of COVID-19 symptoms and the magnitude and functional profile of SARS-CoV-2-specific cellular immunity in individuals recently recovered from mild-to-moderate COVID-19
We observed that patients with prolonged COVID-19 symptoms overall exhibited similar levels of SARS-CoV-2specific cellular immunity as individuals who rapidly resolved their symptoms
Summary
December 2019 [1,2,3]. This initial outbreak has since developed into an unprecedented pandemic, resulting in an estimated 96 million infections and 2 million deaths as of January. While SARS-CoV-2-specific humoral and cellular immunity is evident in the majority of patients following the resolution of acute infection and appears to persist for at least 6–8 months [7,8], the role of this adaptive immune response in regulating viral replication and disease pathogenesis remains unclear. Little is known about how variations in the complex clinical manifestations of COVID-19 impact the development of SARS-CoV-2-specific immunologic memory
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