Altered pre-existing SARS-CoV-2-specific T cell responses in elderly individuals

Abstract

Pre-existing SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells, but not antibodies, have been detected in some unexposed individuals. This may account for some of the diversity in clinical outcomes ranging from asymptomatic infection to severe COVID-19. Although age is a risk factor for COVID-19, how age affects SARS-CoV-2-specific T cell responses remains unknown. We found that pre-existing T cell responses to specific SARS-CoV-2 proteins, Spike (S) and Nucleoprotein (N), were significantly lower in elderly donors (>70 years old) than in young donors. However, substantial pre-existing T cell responses to the viral membrane (M) protein were detected in both young and elderly donors. In contrast, young and elderly donors exhibited comparable T cell responses to S, N, and M proteins after infection with SARS-CoV-2. These data suggest that although SARS-CoV-2 infection can induce T cell responses specific to various viral antigens regardless of age, diversity of target antigen repertoire for long-lived memory T cells specific for SARS-CoV-2 may decline with age; however, memory T cell responses can be maintained by T cells reactive to specific viral proteins such as M. A better understanding of the role of pre-existing SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells that are less susceptible to age-related loss may contribute to development of more effective vaccines for elderly people.