Carolyn Rydyznski Moderbacher, S. Ramirez, J. Dan, A. Grifoni, K. Hastie, D. Weiskopf, S. Bélanger, R. Abbott, Christina Kim, Jinyong Choi, Yu Kato, Eleanor G. Crotty, Cheryl Kim, Stephen A. Rawlings, J. Mateus, Long Ping Victor Tse, A. Frazier, R. Baric, Bjoern Peters, J. Greenbaum, E. Saphire, Davey M. Smith, A. Sette, S. Crotty
Cell, 2020
Limited knowledge is available on the relationship between antigen-specific immune responses and COVID-19 disease severity. We completed a combined examination of all three branches of adaptive immunity at the level of SARS-CoV-2-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T cell and neutralizing antibody responses in acute and convalescent subjects. SARS-CoV-2-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T cells were each associated with milder disease. Coordinated SARS-CoV-2-specific adaptive immune responses were associated with milder disease, suggesting roles for both CD4+ and CD8+ T cells in protective immunity in COVID-19. Notably, coordination of SARS-CoV-2 antigen-specific responses was disrupted in individuals > 65 years old. Scarcity of naive T cells was also associated with ageing and poor disease outcomes. A parsimonious explanation is that coordinated CD4+ T cell, CD8+ T cell, and antibody responses are protective, but uncoordinated responses frequently fail to control disease, with a connection between ageing and impaired adaptive immune responses to SARS-CoV-2.
Cited by 375 publications.
Field of study: Biology