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.
【저자키워드】 SARS-CoV-2, Vaccine, T cell responses, peptides, CTL, 【초록키워드】 neutralizing antibody, coronavirus, T cells, Peptide vaccines, SARS-COV-2 infection, variant, peptide, virus, CD8, immunization, nucleocapsid protein, RNA, human ACE2, T cell, mice, response, hamster, in vivo, peptide vaccine, epitope, T cell response, SARS-CoV-2 spike, administration, Pulmonary pathology, target cell, interferon-γ, tumor necrosis factor-α, acute respiratory syndrome, dose-dependent manner, transgenic mice, effector memory, viral titer, cytotoxic T lymphocyte, effective, highlight, significantly, proportion, indicated, increase, elicit, induce, reduce, statistically significant, alleviate, the SARS-CoV-2, 【제목키워드】 coronavirus 2, respiratory, proof, concept,