SARS-CoV-2-specific CD4+ T cell longevity correlates with Th17-like phenotype

• DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.104959
• Publication Date: 2022-08-17T23:34:54Z
• Authors: Kazutaka Terahara; Takashi Sato; Yu Adachi; Keisuke Tonouchi; Taishi Onodera; Saya Moriyama; Lin Sun; Tomohiro Takano; Ayae Nishiyama; Ai Kawana-Tachikawa; Tetsuro Matano; Takayuki Matsumura; Masaharu Shinkai; Masanori Isogawa; Yoshimasa Takahashi
• Keywords: 0301 basic medicine; Biological sciences; 03 medical and health sciences; Virology; Science; Immunology; Q; Health sciences; Medicine; Article

Determinants of memory T cell longevity following severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection remain unknown. In addition, phenotypes associated with memory T cell longevity, antibody titers, and disease severity are incompletely understood. Here, we longitudinally analyzed SARS-CoV-2-specific T cell and antibody responses of a unique cohort with similar numbers of mild, moderate, and severe coronavirus disease 2019 cases. The half-lives of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells were longer than those of antibody titers and showed no clear correlation with disease severity. When CD4+ T cells were divided into Th1-, Th2-, Th17-, and Tfh-like subsets, the Th17-like subset showed a longer half-life than other subsets, indicating that Th17-like cells are most closely correlated with T cell longevity. In contrast, Th2- and Tfh-like T cells were more closely correlated with antibody titers than other subsets. These results suggest that distinct CD4+ T cell subsets are associated with longevity and antibody responses.