CD8+ T-Cell Responses in COVID-19 Convalescent Individuals Target Conserved Epitopes From Multiple Prominent SARS-CoV-2 Circulating Variants

Open Forum Infect Dis. 2021 Mar 30;8(7):ofab143. doi: 10.1093/ofid/ofab143. eCollection 2021 Jul.

Abstract

This study examined whether CD8+ T-cell responses from coronavirus disease 2019 convalescent individuals (n = 30) potentially maintain recognition of the major severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variants (alpha, beta, gamma; n = 45 mutations assessed). Only 1 mutation found in Beta variant-spike overlapped with a previously identified epitope (1/52), suggesting that virtually all anti-SARS-CoV-2 CD8+ T-cell responses should recognize these newly described variants.

Keywords: CD8+ T cell; COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; convalescent patients.