Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Geers, Daryl
• Shamier, Marc C
• Bogers, Susanne
• den Hartog, Gerco
• Gommers, Lennert
• Nieuwkoop, Nella N
• Schmitz, Katharina S
• Rijsbergen, Laurine C
• van Osch, Jolieke A T
• Dijkhuizen, Emma
• Smits, Gaby
• Comvalius, Anouskha
• van Mourik, Djenolan
• Caniels, Tom G
• van Gils, Marit J
• Sanders, Rogier W
• Oude Munnink, Bas B
• Molenkamp, Richard
• de Jager, Herbert J
• Haagmans, Bart L
• de Swart, Rik L
• Koopmans, Marion P G
• van Binnendijk, Robert S
• de Vries, Rory D
• GeurtsvanKessel, Corine H

Titel

SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern partially escape humoral but not T-cell responses in COVID-19 convalescent donors and vaccinees

Ist Teil von

• Science immunology, 2021-05, Vol.6 (59)

Ort / Verlag

United States

Erscheinungsjahr

2021

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

MEDLINE

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants harboring mutations in the spike (S) protein has raised concern about potential immune escape. Here, we studied humoral and cellular immune responses to wild type SARS-CoV-2 and the B.1.1.7 and B.1.351 variants of concern in a cohort of 121 BNT162b2 mRNA-vaccinated health care workers (HCW). Twenty-three HCW recovered from mild COVID-19 disease and exhibited a recall response with high levels of SARS-CoV-2-specific functional antibodies and virus-specific T cells after a single vaccination. Specific immune responses were also detected in seronegative HCW after one vaccination, but a second dose was required to reach high levels of functional antibodies and cellular immune responses in all individuals. Vaccination-induced antibodies cross-neutralized the variants B.1.1.7 and B.1.351, but the neutralizing capacity and Fc-mediated functionality against B.1.351 was consistently 2- to 4-fold lower than to the homologous virus. In addition, peripheral blood mononuclear cells were stimulated with peptide pools spanning the mutated S regions of B.1.1.7 and B.1.351 to detect cross-reactivity of SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells with variants. Importantly, we observed no differences in CD4 T-cell activation in response to variant antigens, indicating that the B.1.1.7 and B.1.351 S proteins do not escape T-cell-mediated immunity elicited by the wild type S protein. In conclusion, this study shows that some variants can partially escape humoral immunity induced by SARS-CoV-2 infection or BNT162b2 vaccination, but S-specific CD4 T-cell activation is not affected by the mutations in the B.1.1.7 and B.1.351 variants.