TY - JOUR AB - The development of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) vaccines and therapeutics will depend on understanding viral immunity. We studied T cell memory in 42 patients following recovery from COVID-19 (28 with mild disease and 14 with severe disease) and 16 unexposed donors, using interferon-γ-based assays with peptides spanning SARS-CoV-2 except ORF1. The breadth and magnitude of T cell responses were significantly higher in severe as compared with mild cases. Total and spike-specific T cell responses correlated with spike-specific antibody responses. We identified 41 peptides containing CD4+ and/or CD8+ epitopes, including six immunodominant regions. Six optimized CD8+ epitopes were defined, with peptide–MHC pentamer-positive cells displaying the central and effector memory phenotype. In mild cases, higher proportions of SARS-CoV-2-specific CD8+ T cells were observed. The identification of T cell responses associated with milder disease will support an understanding of protective immunity and highlights the potential of including non-spike proteins within future COVID-19 vaccine design. AU - Peng,Y AU - Mentzer,AJ AU - Liu,G AU - Yao,X AU - Yin,Z AU - Dong,D AU - Dejnirattisai,W AU - Rostron,T AU - Supasa,P AU - Liu,C AU - López-Camacho,C AU - Slon-Campos,J AU - Zhao,Y AU - Stuart,DI AU - Paesen,GC AU - Grimes,JM AU - Antson,AA AU - Bayfield,OW AU - Hawkins,DEDP AU - Ker,D AU - Wang,B AU - Turtle,L AU - Subramaniam,K AU - Thomson,P AU - Zhang,P AU - Dold,C AU - Ratcliff,J AU - Simmonds,P AU - de,Silva T AU - Sopp,P AU - Wellington,D AU - Rajapaksa,U AU - Chen,Y AU - Salio,M AU - Napolitani,G AU - Paes,W AU - Borrow,P AU - Kessler,BM AU - Fry,JW AU - Schwabe,NF AU - Semple,MG AU - Baillie,JK AU - Moore,SC AU - Openshaw,PJM AU - Ansari,MA AU - Dunachie,S AU - Barnes,E AU - Frater,J AU - Kerr,G AU - Goulder,P AU - Lockett,T AU - Levin,R AU - Zhang,Y AU - Jing,R AU - Ho,L AU - Barnes,E AU - Dong,D AU - Dong,T AU - Dunachie,S AU - Frater,J AU - Goulder,P AU - Kerr,G AU - Klenerman,P AU - Liu,G AU - McMichael,A AU - Napolitani,G AU - Ogg,G AU - Peng,Y AU - Salio,M AU - Yao,X AU - Yin,Z AU - Kenneth,Baillie J AU - Klenerman,P AU - Mentzer,AJ AU - Moore,SC AU - Openshaw,PJM AU - Semple,MG AU - Stuart,DI AU - Turtle,L AU - Cornall,RJ AU - Conlon,CP AU - Klenerman,P AU - Screaton,GR AU - Mongkolsapaya,J AU - McMichael,A AU - Knight,JC AU - Ogg,G AU - Dong,T AU - Oxford,Immunology Network Covid-19 Response T cell Consortium AU - ISARIC4C,Investigators DO - 10.1038/s41590-020-0782-6 PY - 2020/// SN - 1529-2916 TI - Broad and strong memory CD4+ and CD8+ T cells induced by SARS-CoV-2 in UK convalescent individuals following COVID-19 T2 - Nature Immunology UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41590-020-0782-6 UR - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41590-020-0782-6 ER -