Persistent cellular immunity to SARS-CoV-2 infection

SARS-CoV-2 is responsible for an ongoing pandemic that has affected millions of individuals around the globe. To gain further understanding of the immune response in recovered individuals, we measured T cell responses in paired samples obtained an average of 1.3 and 6.1 mo after infection from 41 individuals. The data indicate that recovered individuals show persistent polyfunctional SARS-CoV-2 antigen-specific memory that could contribute to rapid recall responses. Recovered individuals also show enduring alterations in relative overall numbers of CD4(+) and CD8(+) memory T cells, including expression of activation/exhaustion markers, and cell division.

Automated summary

Recovered individuals exhibit persistent polyfunctional SARS-CoV-2 antigen-specific memory, as well as enduring alterations in the relative overall numbers of CD4(+) and CD8(+) memory T cells, including cell division and expression of activation/exhaustion markers.