Willem A. Mak , Wendy Visser , Johannes G.M. Koeleman , David S.Y. Ong
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background
T cell immunity plays a pivotal role in mitigating the severity of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Therefore, reliable functional T cell assays are required to evaluate severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)-specific T cell immunity in specific patient populations.
Methods
We recruited a cohort of 23 healthcare workers who received their bivalent Omicron BA.1 / ancestral mRNA booster vaccination or were infected with the Omicron variant at a median of 144 days and 227 days before blood collection, respectively. In this cohort, we compared the performances of two widely utilized commercial SARS-CoV-2 interferon-gamma release assays (IGRAs), i.e., QuantiFERON SARS-CoV-2 and T-SPOT.COVID, and an in-house designed Omicron enzyme-linked immunospot (ELISpot).
Results
The QuantiFERON SARS-CoV-2 and T-SPOT.COVID assays detected SARS-CoV-2 spike-specific T cells in 34.8 % and 21.7 % of participants, respectively. Moreover, our in-house designed ELISpot that included Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 full-spike peptides detected T cell responses in 47.8 % of participants and was strongly associated with the T-SPOT.COVID.
Conclusion
The evaluation of SARS-CoV-2 T cell immunity using commercially accessible assays may yield disparate outcomes as results from different assays are not directly comparable. A specific Omicron ELISpot should be considered to assess Omicron-specific T cell immunity.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Virological Methods focuses on original, high quality research papers that describe novel and comprehensively tested methods which enhance human, animal, plant, bacterial or environmental virology and prions research and discovery.
The methods may include, but not limited to, the study of:
Viral components and morphology-
Virus isolation, propagation and development of viral vectors-
Viral pathogenesis, oncogenesis, vaccines and antivirals-
Virus replication, host-pathogen interactions and responses-
Virus transmission, prevention, control and treatment-
Viral metagenomics and virome-
Virus ecology, adaption and evolution-
Applied virology such as nanotechnology-
Viral diagnosis with novelty and comprehensive evaluation.
We seek articles, systematic reviews, meta-analyses and laboratory protocols that include comprehensive technical details with statistical confirmations that provide validations against current best practice, international standards or quality assurance programs and which advance knowledge in virology leading to improved medical, veterinary or agricultural practices and management.