SARS-CoV-2 Variants Are Escaping Neutralizing Antibody Responses, but Have Not Escaped the T-cell Response

To understand immune evasion of emerging variants and vaccine responses, researchers need to go beyond the antibody response and study the T-cell immune response to SARS-CoV-2. T cells generate immune responses to various regions of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, providing a more comprehensive understanding of the immune response in COVID-19.

In this webinar, Dr. Harlan Robins, CSO & Co-founder, Adaptive Biotechnologies, will discuss a peer-reviewed study published in Nature, which used the immunoSEQ® T-MAP™ COVID technology to measure the T-cell immune response, induced by the Ad26.COV2.S COVID-19 vaccine, and quantify T-cell expansion across all regions of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, including the spike protein.

Key findings and observations from the Nature study:

• Neutralizing antibody responses elicited by Ad26.COV2.S were reduced against the B.1.351 & P.1 variants, while CD4+ and CD8+ T cell responses and functional non-neutralizing antibody responses were largely preserved against the SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern;
• TCRβ sequencing with the immunoSEQ Assay revealed substantial breadth of T cell responses in Ad26.COV2.S vaccinated samples;
• Increase in spike-specific T-cell breadth and depth were observed. Breadth of non-Spike TCRs was comparable in vaccine recipients and controls, as expected since the vaccine did not contain any non-Spike immunogens;
• Understand how researchers used immunoSEQ® and immunoSEQ T-MAP COVID to understand, study, and map the vaccine-elicited T-cell immune response to SARS-CoV-2.
  

For Research Use Only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures.