COVID-19 is a recently emerged infectious disease caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. The immune system has a primary role in pathogen elimination and a rapid and effective response can limit disease severity. In this context, T cells play the major role in cell mediated adaptive immune response. The protective role of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells has been inferred from studies on patients who recovered from SARS and MERS and accumulating data are now showing their relevance in SARS-CoV-2 infection. Moreover, memory T cells induced by previous pathogens can shape the susceptibility to, and the clinical severity of other infections, but the complete picture has yet to be elucidated. If the virus is not rapidly eliminated, COVID-19 may progress towards a secondary inflammatory phase that is directly responsible for a worsening in clinical symptoms and immune system impairment. Besides marked lymphopenia, COVID-19 patients’ T cell compartment displays several alterations involving different subpopulations of T cells in terms of phenotype, metabolic profile and functionality.
The characterization of T cell response is crucial to defining the status of the immune response at different stages of COVID-19. This applies to both the polyclonal and the SARS-CoV-2 specific response. The T cell mediated host immune response is also a strong indicator for disease diagnosis. In addition, it has become a potential candidate for evaluating the efficacy of therapy against viral infections. A pressing need to deeply profile cells responsible for the immune response has led to attempts to integrate data obtained from traditional approaches with those obtained with new, more sophisticated, single-cell technologies, including high parameter flow cytometry, single-cell sequencing and high-resolution imaging. Thanks to these techniques, the characterization of the T cell response can be very informative to decipher SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells associated with viral clearance but also useful for vaccine development.
In this Research Topic, we welcome the submission of Original Research, Review/Mini-review, Case Report, Perspective and Opinion articles on T cell responses in acute and recovered COVID-19 patients, aiming to collect and build a comprehensive and specific consensus signature of T cell immunity in SARS-CoV-2 viral infection. Studies examining the T cell response following vaccination is also of interest. We seek contributions related to, but not limited to, the following themes:
• T cell response at different stages of COVID-19
• T cell specific response to SARS-CoV-2 and its variants
• Metabolic changes and mitochondria functionality in T cell in COVID-19
• Immunological memory to SARS-CoV-2
• Vaccine-induced T cell response to SARS-CoV-2
• Cross-talk of T cell response with other immune system components
• Modulation of T cell response in COVID-19 by drugs
• T cell response in mouse models of SARS-CoV-2 infection
COVID-19 is a recently emerged infectious disease caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. The immune system has a primary role in pathogen elimination and a rapid and effective response can limit disease severity. In this context, T cells play the major role in cell mediated adaptive immune response. The protective role of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells has been inferred from studies on patients who recovered from SARS and MERS and accumulating data are now showing their relevance in SARS-CoV-2 infection. Moreover, memory T cells induced by previous pathogens can shape the susceptibility to, and the clinical severity of other infections, but the complete picture has yet to be elucidated. If the virus is not rapidly eliminated, COVID-19 may progress towards a secondary inflammatory phase that is directly responsible for a worsening in clinical symptoms and immune system impairment. Besides marked lymphopenia, COVID-19 patients’ T cell compartment displays several alterations involving different subpopulations of T cells in terms of phenotype, metabolic profile and functionality.
The characterization of T cell response is crucial to defining the status of the immune response at different stages of COVID-19. This applies to both the polyclonal and the SARS-CoV-2 specific response. The T cell mediated host immune response is also a strong indicator for disease diagnosis. In addition, it has become a potential candidate for evaluating the efficacy of therapy against viral infections. A pressing need to deeply profile cells responsible for the immune response has led to attempts to integrate data obtained from traditional approaches with those obtained with new, more sophisticated, single-cell technologies, including high parameter flow cytometry, single-cell sequencing and high-resolution imaging. Thanks to these techniques, the characterization of the T cell response can be very informative to decipher SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells associated with viral clearance but also useful for vaccine development.
In this Research Topic, we welcome the submission of Original Research, Review/Mini-review, Case Report, Perspective and Opinion articles on T cell responses in acute and recovered COVID-19 patients, aiming to collect and build a comprehensive and specific consensus signature of T cell immunity in SARS-CoV-2 viral infection. Studies examining the T cell response following vaccination is also of interest. We seek contributions related to, but not limited to, the following themes:
• T cell response at different stages of COVID-19
• T cell specific response to SARS-CoV-2 and its variants
• Metabolic changes and mitochondria functionality in T cell in COVID-19
• Immunological memory to SARS-CoV-2
• Vaccine-induced T cell response to SARS-CoV-2
• Cross-talk of T cell response with other immune system components
• Modulation of T cell response in COVID-19 by drugs
• T cell response in mouse models of SARS-CoV-2 infection
