SARS-CoV-2-specific serological and functional T cell immune responses during acute and early COVID-19 convalescence in solid organ transplant patients

Abstract

The description of protective humoral and T cell immune responses specific against SARS-CoV-2 has been reported among immunocompetent (IC) individuals developing COVID-19 infection. However, its characterization and determinants of poorer outcomes among the at-risk solid organ transplant (SOT) patient population have not been thoroughly investigated. Cytokine-producing T cell responses, such as IFN-γ, IL-2, IFN-γ/IL-2, IL-6, IL-21, and IL-5, against main immunogenic SARS-CoV-2 antigens and IgM/IgG serological immunity were tracked in SOT (n = 28) during acute infection and at two consecutive time points over the following 40 days of convalescence and were compared to matched IC (n = 16) patients admitted with similar moderate/severe COVID-19. We describe the development of a robust serological and functional T cell immune responses against SARS-CoV-2 among SOT patients, similar to IC patients during early convalescence. However, at the infection onset, SOT displayed lower IgG seroconversion rates (77% vs. 100%; p =.044), despite no differences on IgG titers, and a trend toward decreased SARS-CoV-2-reactive T cell frequencies, especially against the membrane protein (7 [0–34] vs. 113 [15–245], p =.011, 2 [0–9] vs. 45 [5–74], p =.009, and 0 [0–2] vs. 13 [1–24], p =.020, IFN-γ, IL-2, and IFN-γ/IL-2 spots, respectively). In summary, our data suggest that despite a certain initial delay, SOT population achieve comparable functional immune responses than the general population after moderate/severe COVID-19.