Longitudinal analysis of humoral and cellular immunity in SARS-CoV-2 exposed families

Longitudinal analysis of humoral and cellular immunity in SARS-CoV-2 exposed families

Abstract Identification of previous SARS-CoV-2 infection typically relies on serology, yet T-cells play a key role in the adaptive immune response against SARS-CoV-2. Here, we investigated in parallel the SARS-CoV-2-specific as well as endemic human coronavirus-specific humoral and cross-reactive ce...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Alex Dulovic, Armin Rabsteyn, Jonathan Remppis, Irene K. E. Gentzcke, Julia Mueller, Nadja Tuecks, Matthias Becker, Daniel Junker, Philipp D. Kaiser, Bjoern Traenkle, Ulrich Rothbauer, Juliane S. Walz, Andreas Peter, Sebastian Hörber, Tina Ganzenmueller, Thomas Iftner, Maximilian Stich, Burkhard Tönshoff, Philipp Henneke, Roland Elling, Klaus-Michael Debatin, Ales Janda, Nicole Schneiderhan-Marra, Axel R. Franz, Peter Lang, Hanna Renk
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2025-07-01
Series:Scientific Reports
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-07739-3
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Abstract Identification of previous SARS-CoV-2 infection typically relies on serology, yet T-cells play a key role in the adaptive immune response against SARS-CoV-2. Here, we investigated in parallel the SARS-CoV-2-specific as well as endemic human coronavirus-specific humoral and cross-reactive cellular responses in children and adults. We analyzed clinical data and blood samples from a family cohort of 96 children and 144 adults at 3–4 and 11–12 months after their first contact with SARS-CoV-2. Humoral response was assessed by a multiplex immunoassay with high sensitivity and specificity (MULTICOV-AB). Cellular responses were analyzed by IFN-γ ELISPOT using four different established epitope compositions (ECs) to discriminate between SARS-CoV-2 specific and HCoV cross-reactive T-cell responses. While the majority of adults had a combined serological and T-cell response, relatively more children had a T-cell response alone rather than a combined response. The magnitude of the T-cell response correlated with symptoms and the humoral response. In addition, SARS-CoV-2 infection significantly boosted the endemic coronavirus-specific cellular response. Overall, our data suggest discordant humoral and cellular responses, reflecting either abortive infection, cellular sensitization with rapid viral clearance or rapid antibody waning or a combination of these phenomena. Restricting epidemiologic analysis to SARS-CoV-2 serological data may underestimate rates of infection with or at least exposure to SARS-CoV-2 in children.
ISSN:2045-2322

Similar Items