A simple T-cell test to show the full picture of body's immune response
to COVID-19
A rapid way to track an elusive part of the immune system will bring
better vaccine strategies

Date:
September 2, 2021
Source:
Duke-NUS Medical School
Summary:
A new method enables scientists to simply and rapidly assess T-cell
immune responses in people vaccinated against or recovering from
COVID- 19, and verify vaccine effectiveness.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Researchers from Duke-NUS Medical School, together with collaborators from
the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID) and Singapore General Hospital (SGH), have discovered a simple and rapid method to measure
the T-cell immune response to the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19.


==========================================================================
A growing body of data now demonstrates the importance of both T cells
and antibodies in the coordinated immune response against SARS-CoV-2. This method is a further boost to scientists who seek to routinely monitor and assess SARS- CoV-2-specific T-cell responses in vaccinated or convalescent individuals, as well as to test and verify the effectiveness of vaccines.

"T cells play a vital role alongside antibodies in protecting people
against COVID-19, but they are much harder to detect and measure,"
said Dr Anthony Tanoto Tan, Senior Research Fellow with Duke-NUS'
Emerging Infectious Diseases (EID) Programme and first author of the
study. "Our research offers a feasible approach that can overcome the
current limitations faced in detecting spike- specific T-cell responses,
and will help better evaluate the protective role played by T cells
in our immune system." For the study, published in the Journal of
Clinical Investigation, scientists took blood samples from volunteers
who were vaccinated against COVID-19, or who had been infected and then recovered from the disease. They then introduced small fragments of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein directly into the blood samples. In response to
these fragments, the T cells released chemical signals called cytokines,
which are much easier to detect and measure than T cells, and are already
being tracked to monitor T-cell activity for the diagnosis of diseases
such as tuberculosis.

Building on that, the team showed that the test, called Cytokine Release
Assay (CRA), can reliably identify and quantify specific T cells present
in the blood of people who have been vaccinated against COVID-19, or
have recovered from SARS-CoV-2 infection. Working with different blood
samples from more than 200 people, the researchers desmonstrated that the
CRA test was as sensitive as existing methods used to find and measure
T-cell activity.

"This discovery allows a rapid and large-scale expansion of studies to
track T- cell activity across the world, while not requiring specialised
or expensive equipment," said Professor Antonio Bertoletti from Duke-NUS'
EID programme, the study's corresponding author. "The study results
confirm that the level of antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 in blood samples
does not always correlate with the T-cell response. With this rapid
test, we can help define the correlates of protection from T cells and antibodies for the development of COVID-19 vaccines." Professor Patrick
Casey, Senior Vice-Dean for Research at Duke-NUS, said, "This important
study advances our understanding of the human body's immune response
at a critical juncture in this pandemic. As validated in this research, repurposing the well-established CRA test to fast-track the evaluation
of T- cell responses in COVID-inoculated or -convalescent patients adds
a new dimension to vaccine strategies as we battle the threat of new
and emergent variants." To bring this discovery to market, Duke-NUS has licensed the assay to Hyris, an innovation-based biotechnology company,
which will leverage its Hyris SystemTM to further develop this rapid
SARS-CoV-2 T-cell test for clinical use globally.

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Duke-NUS_Medical_School. Note:
Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Anthony T. Tan, Joey M.E. Lim, Nina Le Bert, Kamini Kunasegaran,
Adeline
Chia, Martin D.C. Qui, Nicole Tan, Wan Ni Chia, Ruklanthi de
Alwis, Ding Ying, Jean X.Y. Sim, Eng Eong Ooi, Lin-Fa Wang, Mark
I-Cheng Chen, Barnaby E. Young, Li Yang Hsu, Jenny G.H. Low, David
C. Lye, Antonio Bertoletti. Rapid measurement of SARS-CoV-2 spike
T cells in whole blood from vaccinated and naturally infected
individuals. Journal of Clinical Investigation, 2021; 131 (17)
DOI: 10.1172/JCI152379 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/09/210902124937.htm

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