Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Cohen, Carolyn A.
• Li, Athena P. Y.
• Hachim, Asmaa
• Hui, David S. C.
• Kwan, Mike Y. W.
• Tsang, Owen T. Y.
• Chiu, Susan S.
• Chan, Wai Hung
• Yau, Yat Sun
• Kavian, Niloufar
• Ma, Fionn N. L.
• Lau, Eric H. Y.
• Cheng, Samuel M. S.
• Poon, Leo L. M.
• Peiris, Malik
• Valkenburg, Sophie A.

Titel

SARS-CoV-2 specific T cell responses are lower in children and increase with age and time after infection

Ist Teil von

• Nature communications, 2021-07, Vol.12 (1), p.4678-4678, Article 4678

Ort / Verlag

London: Nature Publishing Group

Erscheinungsjahr

2021

Quelle

Alma/SFX Local Collection

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Abstract SARS-CoV-2 infection of children leads to a mild illness and the immunological differences with adults are unclear. Here, we report SARS-CoV-2 specific T cell responses in infected adults and children and find that the acute and memory CD4 + T cell responses to structural SARS-CoV-2 proteins increase with age, whereas CD8 + T cell responses increase with time post-infection. Infected children have lower CD4 + and CD8 + T cell responses to SARS-CoV-2 structural and ORF1ab proteins when compared with infected adults, comparable T cell polyfunctionality and reduced CD4 + T cell effector memory. Compared with adults, children have lower levels of antibodies to β-coronaviruses, indicating differing baseline immunity. Total T follicular helper responses are increased, whilst monocyte numbers are reduced, indicating rapid adaptive co-ordination of the T and B cell responses and differing levels of inflammation. Therefore, reduced prior β-coronavirus immunity and reduced T cell activation in children might drive milder COVID-19 pathogenesis.