HLA molecules are key restrictive elements to present intracellular antigens at the crossroads of an effective T-cell response against SARS-CoV-2. To determine the impact of the HLA genotype on the severity of SARS-CoV-2 courses, we investigated data from 6,919 infected individuals. HLA-A, -B, and -DRB1 allotypes grouped into HLA supertypes by functional or predicted structural similarities of the peptide-binding grooves did not predict COVID-19 severity. Further, we did not observe a heterozygote advantage or a benefit from HLA diplotypes with more divergent physicochemical peptide-binding properties. Finally, numbers of in silico predicted viral T-cell epitopes did not correlate with the severity of SARS-CoV-2 infections. These findings suggest that the HLA genotype is no major factor determining COVID-19 severity. Moreover, our data suggest that the spike glycoprotein alone may allow for abundant T-cell epitopes to mount robust T-cell responses not limited by the HLA genotype.
Keywords: HLA; SARS-CoV-2; T-cell epitopes; immunogenetics; in silico prediction.
Copyright © 2021 Schetelig, Heidenreich, Baldauf, Trost, Falk, Hoßbach, Real, Roers, Lindemann, Dalpke, Kolditz, de With, Bornhäuser, Bonifacio, Rücker-Braun, Lange, Markert, Barth, Hofmann, Sauter, Bernas and Schmidt.