Abstract
Since the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic began 2 years ago, the scientific community has swiftly worked to understand the transmission, pathogenesis, and immune response of this virus to implement public health policies and ultimately project an end to the pandemic. In this perspective, we present our work identifying SARS-CoV-2 epitopes to quantify T-cell responses and review how T cells may help protect against severe disease. We examine our prior studies which demonstrate durable humoral and cell-mediated memory in natural infection and vaccination. We discuss how SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells from either natural infection or vaccination can recognize emerging variants of concern, suggesting that the currently approved vaccines may be sufficient. We also discuss how pre-existing cross-reactive T cells promote rapid development of immune memory to SARS-CoV-2. We finally posit how identifying SARS-CoV-2 epitopes can help us develop a pan-coronavirus vaccine to prepare for future pandemics.
Keywords: epitopes; immune memory; pre-existing cross-reactive; variants.
【저자키워드】 variants, Epitopes, immune memory, pre-existing cross-reactive, 【초록키워드】 public health, SARS-CoV-2, Vaccine, coronavirus, immune response, vaccination, pandemic, Pathogenesis, T cells, T-cell Response, variants of concern, Transmission, severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus, virus, variants, immune, memory, Epitopes, T cell, Pandemics, Scientific community, immune memory, natural infection, SARS-CoV-2 epitopes, T-cell responses, SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells, severe disease, humoral, cross-reactive, acute respiratory syndrome, acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus, acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, Perspective, help, PROTECT, develop, approved, recognize, promote, SARS-CoV-2 epitope, SARS-CoV-2-specific T cell, 【제목키워드】 SARS-CoV-2, coronavirus 2, respiratory, observation,