iScience
Volume 25, Issue 9, 16 September 2022, 104959
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Article
SARS-CoV-2-specific CD4+ T cell longevity correlates with Th17-like phenotype

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2022.104959Get rights and content
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Highlights

  • Th17-like CD4+ T cells showed a longer half-life than other CD4+ T cell subsets

  • Anti-RBD-IgG titers were associated with Th2- and Tfh-like CD4 T cells

  • CD45RA+CD8+ T cells were correlated with disease severity during the early phase

Summary

Determinants of memory T cell longevity following severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection remain unknown. In addition, phenotypes associated with memory T cell longevity, antibody titers, and disease severity are incompletely understood. Here, we longitudinally analyzed SARS-CoV-2-specific T cell and antibody responses of a unique cohort with similar numbers of mild, moderate, and severe coronavirus disease 2019 cases. The half-lives of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells were longer than those of antibody titers and showed no clear correlation with disease severity. When CD4+ T cells were divided into Th1-, Th2-, Th17-, and Tfh-like subsets, the Th17-like subset showed a longer half-life than other subsets, indicating that Th17-like cells are most closely correlated with T cell longevity. In contrast, Th2- and Tfh-like T cells were more closely correlated with antibody titers than other subsets. These results suggest that distinct CD4+ T cell subsets are associated with longevity and antibody responses.

Subject areas

Health sciences
Medicine
Immunology
Virology
Biological sciences

Data and code availability

All data reported will be shared by the lead contact upon request. This paper does not report the original code. Additional information required to analyze the data reported in this paper is available from the lead contact upon request.

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