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Review
. 2023 Nov 22;2(1):e000468.
doi: 10.1136/bmjmed-2022-000468. eCollection 2023.

T cell immune memory after covid-19 and vaccination

Lulu Wang  1 , Alex Nicols  1 , Lance Turtle  2   3 , Alex Richter  4 , Christopher Ja Duncan  1   5 , Susanna J Dunachie  6   7 , Paul Klenerman  8   9 , Rebecca P Payne  1
Affiliations
Review

T cell immune memory after covid-19 and vaccination

Lulu Wang et al. BMJ Med. .

Abstract

The T cell memory response is a crucial component of adaptive immunity responsible for limiting or preventing viral reinfection. T cell memory after infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus or vaccination is broad, and spans multiple viral proteins and epitopes, about 20 in each individual. So far the T cell memory response is long lasting and provides a high level of cross reactivity and hence resistance to viral escape by variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, such as the omicron variant. All current vaccine regimens tested produce robust T cell memory responses, and heterologous regimens will probably enhance protective responses through increased breadth. T cell memory could have a major role in protecting against severe covid-19 disease through rapid viral clearance and early presentation of epitopes, and the presence of cross reactive T cells might enhance this protection. T cell memory is likely to provide ongoing protection against admission to hospital and death, and the development of a pan-coronovirus vaccine might future proof against new pandemic strains.

Keywords: COVID-19; Covid-19; Immunology; Respiratory tract infections.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: We have read and understood the BMJ policy on declaration of interests and declare the following interests: CJAD has done consultancy for Synairgen and Moderna, has been an investigator on commercial SARS-CoV-2 vaccine studies (AstraZeneca, Moderna, and Valneva), receives current research funding from UK MRC, and previous funding from DHSC, Wellcome, and Barbour Foundation; LT has received consulting fees from MHRA, and from AstraZeneca and Synairgen, paid to the University of Liverpool, speakers’ fees from Eisai Ltd, and support for conference attendance from AstraZeneca. PK has done consultancy work for Astra Zeneca, UCB, MedImmuneBio, GlaxoSimthKline, Ysios, Biomunex, and Infinitopes, has received competitive grant funding for basic science investigations of inflammatory bowel disease from Pfizer and Johnson&Jonhson through external grant award schemes, and has been granted a patent to generate anticancer vaccines using adenovirus vectors with CRUK; SJD is a member of the UK government’s New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group; AR is co-investigator in a phase III study evaluation of a monoclonal antibody for pre-exposure prophylaxis with GlaxoSmithKline and received compensation from Takaeda and CSL Biotechnology for conference attendances invited talks.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
SARS-CoV-2 wild type and variants of concern, and most widely used covid-19 vaccines globally. (Top) Timeline of when the wild type and variants of concern were first detected. (Bottom) Summary of number of countries that the most widely used covid-19 vaccines were administered, and vaccine types. Source of data: https://www.who.int/. Created with BioRender.com
Figure 2
Figure 2
Summary of SARS-CoV-2 specific T cell memory phenotypes in different scenarios. Created with Biorender.com
Figure 3
Figure 3
Key features of SARS-CoV-2 specific T cell memory correlating with protection, summarising the role of SARS-CoV-2 T cell memory as well as the potential underlying mechanisms. NSP=non-structural protein; NP=nucleocapsid protein; ORF=open reading frame; Th1=type 1 helper T cell. Created with BioRender.com
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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