Antigenic Determinants of SARS-CoV-2-Specific CD4⁺ T Cell Lines Reveals M Protein-Driven Dysregulation of Interferon Signaling.

ABSTRACT: We generated CD4⁺ T cell lines (TCLs) reactive to either SARS-CoV-2 spike (S) or membrane (M) proteins from unexposed naïve T cells from six healthy donor volunteers to understand in fine detail whether the S and M structural proteins have intrinsic differences in driving antigen-specific CD4⁺ T cell responses. Having shown that each of the TCLs were antigen-specific and antigen-reactive, single cell mRNA analyses demonstrated that SARS-CoV-2 S and M proteins drive strikingly distinct molecular signatures. Whereas the S-specific CD4⁺ T cell transcriptional signature showed a marked upregulation of CCL1, CD44, IL17RB, TNFRSF18 (GITR) and IGLC3 genes, in general their overall transcriptome signature was more similar to CD4⁺ T cell responses induced

SUBMITTER: Gazzinelli-Guimaraes PH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9279651 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature