TY - JOUR
T1 - SARS-CoV-2-specific T cell responses
T2 - a comparative analysis between QuantiFERON SARS-CoV-2, T-SPOT.COVID, and an in-house Omicron ELISpot
AU - Mak, Willem A.
AU - Visser, Wendy
AU - Koeleman, Johannes G.M.
AU - Ong, David S.Y.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 The Authors
PY - 2024/6
Y1 - 2024/6
N2 - Background: T cell immunity plays a pivotal role in mitigating the severity of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Therefore, reliable functional T cell assays are required to evaluate severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)-specific T cell immunity in specific patient populations. Methods: We recruited a cohort of 23 healthcare workers who received their bivalent Omicron BA.1 / ancestral mRNA booster vaccination or were infected with the Omicron variant at a median of 144 days and 227 days before blood collection, respectively. In this cohort, we compared the performances of two widely utilized commercial SARS-CoV-2 interferon-gamma release assays (IGRAs), i.e., QuantiFERON SARS-CoV-2 and T-SPOT.COVID, and an in-house designed Omicron enzyme-linked immunospot (ELISpot). Results: The QuantiFERON SARS-CoV-2 and T-SPOT.COVID assays detected SARS-CoV-2 spike-specific T cells in 34.8 % and 21.7 % of participants, respectively. Moreover, our in-house designed ELISpot that included Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 full-spike peptides detected T cell responses in 47.8 % of participants and was strongly associated with the T-SPOT.COVID. Conclusion: The evaluation of SARS-CoV-2 T cell immunity using commercially accessible assays may yield disparate outcomes as results from different assays are not directly comparable. A specific Omicron ELISpot should be considered to assess Omicron-specific T cell immunity.
AB - Background: T cell immunity plays a pivotal role in mitigating the severity of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Therefore, reliable functional T cell assays are required to evaluate severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)-specific T cell immunity in specific patient populations. Methods: We recruited a cohort of 23 healthcare workers who received their bivalent Omicron BA.1 / ancestral mRNA booster vaccination or were infected with the Omicron variant at a median of 144 days and 227 days before blood collection, respectively. In this cohort, we compared the performances of two widely utilized commercial SARS-CoV-2 interferon-gamma release assays (IGRAs), i.e., QuantiFERON SARS-CoV-2 and T-SPOT.COVID, and an in-house designed Omicron enzyme-linked immunospot (ELISpot). Results: The QuantiFERON SARS-CoV-2 and T-SPOT.COVID assays detected SARS-CoV-2 spike-specific T cells in 34.8 % and 21.7 % of participants, respectively. Moreover, our in-house designed ELISpot that included Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 full-spike peptides detected T cell responses in 47.8 % of participants and was strongly associated with the T-SPOT.COVID. Conclusion: The evaluation of SARS-CoV-2 T cell immunity using commercially accessible assays may yield disparate outcomes as results from different assays are not directly comparable. A specific Omicron ELISpot should be considered to assess Omicron-specific T cell immunity.
KW - COVID-19
KW - ELISpot
KW - IGRA
KW - Immunity
KW - SARS-CoV-2
KW - T cells
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85192741472&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jviromet.2024.114949
DO - 10.1016/j.jviromet.2024.114949
M3 - Article
C2 - 38710307
AN - SCOPUS:85192741472
SN - 0166-0934
VL - 327
JO - Journal of Virological Methods
JF - Journal of Virological Methods
M1 - 114949
ER -