The T-cell response to SARS-CoV-2: kinetic and quantitative aspects and the case for their protective role

Antonio Bertoletti; Anthony T Tan; Nina Le Bert

doi:10.1093/oxfimm/iqab006

The T-cell response to SARS-CoV-2: kinetic and quantitative aspects and the case for their protective role

Oxf Open Immunol. 2021 Feb 23;2(1):iqab006. doi: 10.1093/oxfimm/iqab006. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Antonio Bertoletti^{1

2}, Anthony T Tan¹, Nina Le Bert¹

Affiliations

¹ Programme in Emerging Infectious Diseases, Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore.
² Singapore Immunology Network, A*STAR, Singapore.

Abstract

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), the etiological agent of Coronavirus Diseases 2019 (COVID-19), triggers an adaptive immunity in the infected host that results in the production of virus-specific antibodies and T cells. Although kinetic and quantitative aspects of antibodies have been analyzed in large patient cohorts, similar information about SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells are scarce. We summarize the available knowledge of quantitative and temporal features of the SARS-CoV-2 T-cell response in this review. Currently, most of the data are derived only from the analysis of the circulatory compartment. Despite this limitation, early appearance, multi-specificity and functionality of SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells are associated with accelerated viral clearance and with protection from severe COVID-19.

Keywords: COVID-19; T cells; virus-specific T cells.

Publication types

Review