Immunological memory to SARS-CoV-2 assessed for up to 8 months after infection

January 6, 2021

Dan JM, Mateus J, Kato Y, et al.

Science

The goal of this study was to gain a better understanding of immune memory after SARS-CoV-2 infection. The study included 188 participants (80 males, 108 female) from the United States between the ages of 19 and 81 years old with confirmed COVID-19 cases which were mild, moderate, severe, or asymptomatic. Of those participants, 254 samples were collected between 6 and 250 days post symptom onset (PSO). Results from the cross-sectional analysis show that SARS-CoV-2 Spike IgG titers were stable from 20-240 days PSO. Spike-specific memory B cells were more abundant at 6 months compared to 1 month PSO. SARS-CoV-2 memory CD4+ T cells were 93% (53/57) detectable 1 month PSO and 92% (33/36) detectable ≥6 months PSO. SARS-CoV-2 memory CD8+ T cells were 70% (40/57) detectable 1 month PSO and 50% (18/36) detectable ≥ 6 months PSO. The authors suggest that each component of SARS-CoV-2 immune memory exhibited different kinetics and understanding immune memory to SARS-CoV-2 will improve vaccines and diagnostic testing.

Dan JM, Mateus J, Kato Y, et al. Immunological memory to SARS-CoV-2 assessed for up to 8 months after infection. Science (80- ) 2021; 4063: eabf4063.

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