| Title | T-cell responses to SARS-CoV-2 in unexposed South African women. | ||
| Author | Nunes, Marta C; Johnson, Michael J; Kwatra, Gaurav; Weinberg, Adriana; Madhi, Shabir A | ||
| Journal | Gates Open Res | Publication Year/Month | 2021 |
| PMID | 35903460 | PMCID | PMC9279637 |
| Affiliation + expend | 1.South African Medical Research Council, Vaccines and Infectious Diseases Analytics Research Unit, School of Pathology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. | ||
Background: A potential explanation for the fact that the high rate of infection of SARS-CoV-2 in South Africa did not translate into high rates of severe illness and death may be the presence of cross-reactive immunity induced by common cold coronaviruses (CCoV). Methods: We used SARS-CoV-2 peptide pools and whole virus antigen to stimulate peripheral blood mononuclear cells collected pre-2020 from South African women. Dual-colour FluoroSpot assay was used to measure interferon gamma (IFNgamma) and interleukin 2 (IL2) production. Results: Among the 97 study participants, IFNgamma responses were observed in 29.9% of the women and IL2 among 39.2%. Overall, 51.6% of women demonstrated response to at least one stimulant. Conclusion: We demonstrate the presence of cross-reactive immunity to SARS-CoV-2, which might have been induced by past exposure to CCoV.