In:
Frontiers in Microbiology, Frontiers Media SA, Vol. 12 ( 2021-9-24)
Abstract:
The emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variants that escape vaccine-induced neutralizing antibodies has indicated the importance of T cell responses against this virus. In this study, we highlight the SARS-CoV-2 epitopes that induce potent T cell responses and discuss whether T cell responses alone are adequate to confer protection against SARS-CoV-2 and describe the administration of 20 peptides with an RNA adjuvant in mice. The peptides have been synthesized based on SARS-CoV-2 spike and nucleocapsid protein sequences. Our study demonstrates that immunization with these peptides significantly increases the proportion of effector memory T cell population and interferon-γ (IFN-γ)-, interleukin-4 (IL-4)-, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α)-, and granzyme B-producing T cells. Of these 20 peptides, four induce the generation of IFN-γ-producing T cells, elicit CD8 + T cell (CTL) responses in a dose-dependent manner, and induce cytotoxic T lymphocytes that eliminate peptide-pulsed target cells in vivo . Although it is not statistically significant, these peptide vaccines reduce viral titers in infected hamsters and alleviate pulmonary pathology in SARS-CoV-2-infected human ACE2 transgenic mice. These findings may aid the design of effective SARS-CoV-2 peptide vaccines, while providing insights into the role of T cells in SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Type of Medium:
Online Resource
ISSN:
1664-302X
DOI:
10.3389/fmicb.2021.732450
DOI:
10.3389/fmicb.2021.732450.s001
Language:
Unknown
Publisher:
Frontiers Media SA
Publication Date:
2021
detail.hit.zdb_id:
2587354-4
