T Cell Immunity Evaluation and Immunodominant Epitope T Cell Receptor Identification of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Spike Glycoprotein in COVID-19 Convalescent Patients

Luo Li; Qian Chen; Xiaojian Han; Meiying Shen; Chao Hu; Siyin Chen; Jing Zhang; Yingming Wang; Tingting Li; Jingjing Huang; Shenglong Li; Yanan Hao; Aishun Jin

doi:10.3389/fcell.2021.696662

T Cell Immunity Evaluation and Immunodominant Epitope T Cell Receptor Identification of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Spike Glycoprotein in COVID-19 Convalescent Patients

Front Cell Dev Biol. 2021 Nov 3:9:696662. doi: 10.3389/fcell.2021.696662. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Luo Li^{1

2}, Qian Chen^{1

2}, Xiaojian Han^{1

2}, Meiying Shen³, Chao Hu^{1

2}, Siyin Chen^{1

2}, Jing Zhang^{1

2}, Yingming Wang^{1

2}, Tingting Li^{1

2}, Jingjing Huang^{1

2}, Shenglong Li^{1

2}, Yanan Hao^{1

2}, Aishun Jin^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Immunology, College of Basic Medicine, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China.
² Chongqing Key Laboratory of Cancer Immunology Translational Medicine, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China.
³ Department of Endocrine Breast Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China.

Abstract

A better understanding of the role of T cells in the immune response to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is helpful not only for vaccine development but also for the treatment of COVID-19 patients. In this study, we determined the existence of SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells in the blood of COVID-19 convalescents. Meanwhile, the specific T cell response in the non-RBD region was stronger than in the RBD region. We also found that SARS-CoV-2 S-specific reactive CD4⁺ T cells exhibited higher frequency than CD8⁺ T cells in recovered COVID-19 patients, with greater number of corresponding epitopes presented. Importantly, we isolated the SARS-CoV-2-specific CD4⁺ T cell receptors (TCRs) and inserted the TCRs into allogenic CD4⁺ T cells. These TCR-T cells can be activated by SARS-CoV-2 spike peptide and produce IFN-γ in vitro. These results might provide valuable information for the development of vaccines and new therapies against COVID-19.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; T cell epitope; TCR; TCR-T.