As the MHC-I-pathway is key to antigen presentation to cytotoxic T-cells and, therefore, recognition by the host adaptive immune system, we hypothesized that SARS-CoV-2 including its Variants of Concern (VOCs), influences MHC-I expression on epithelial cell surfaces as an immune evasion strategy. We conducted an in vitro time course experiment with the human airway epithelial cell line Calu-3 and the human colorectal adenocarcinoma cell line Caco-2. Cells were infected with SARS-CoV-2 strains non-VOC/B.1.1, Alpha/B.1.1.7, Beta/B.1.351, Gamma/P.1, and Delta/B.1.617.2. At 2, 24, 48 and 72 h post-infection we performed RT-qPCR to track viral replication. Simultaneously, we performed intracellular staining with a serum of a double-vaccinated healthy adult containing a high amount of spike protein antibody. In flow cytometry experiments, we differentiated between infected (spike protein positive) and bystander (spike protein negative) cells. To compare their HLA expression levels, cells were stained extracellularly with anti-HLA-A-IgG and anti-HLA-B,C-IgG. While HLA-A expression was stable on infected Calu-3 cells for all variants, it increased to different degrees on bystander cells in samples infected with VOCs Beta, Gamma, Delta, or non-VOC over the time course analyzed. In contrast, HLA-A levels were stable in bystander Calu-3 cells in samples infected with the Alpha variant. The upregulation of MHC-I on spike protein negative bystander cells in Calu-3 cell cultures infected with Beta, Gamma, Delta, and partly non-VOC might suggest that infected cells are still capable of secreting inflammatory cytokines like type-I interferons stimulating the MHC-I expression on bystander cells. In comparison, there was no distinct effect on HLA expression level on Caco-2 cells of any of the VOCs or non-VOC. Further investigations of the full range of immune evasion strategies of SARS-CoV-2 variants are warranted.
Keywords: HLA; MHC-I; SARS-CoV-2 variants; Variants of Concern.