The impact of viral mutations on recognition by SARS-CoV-2 specific T-cells

de Silva, T. I.; Liu, G.; Lindsey, B. B.; Dong, D.; Shah, D.; Mentzer, A. J.; Angyal, A.; Brown, R.; Parker, M. D.; Yin, Z.; Yao, X.; Turtle, L.; Dunachie, S.; COVID-19 Genomics UK (COG-UK) Consortium,; Maini, M. K.; Ogg, G.; Knight, J. C.; Peng, Y.; Rowland-Jones, S. L.; Dong, T.

doi:10.1101/2021.04.08.438904

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bioRxiv · 10.1101/2021.04.08.438904

The impact of viral mutations on recognition by SARS-CoV-2 specific T-cells

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Abstract

We identify amino acid variants within dominant SARS-CoV-2 T-cell epitopes by interrogating global sequence data. Several variants within nucleocapsid and ORF3a epitopes have arisen independently in multiple lineages and result in loss of recognition by epitope-specific T-cells assessed by IFN-{gamma} and cytotoxic killing assays. These data demonstrate the potential for T-cell evasion and highlight the need for ongoing surveillance for variants capable of escaping T-cell as well as humoral immunity.

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de Silva, T. I., Liu, G., Lindsey, B. B., Dong, D., Shah, D., Mentzer, A. J., Angyal, A., Brown, R., Parker, M. D., Yin, Z., Yao, X., Turtle, L., Dunachie, S., COVID-19 Genomics UK (COG-UK) Consortium,, Maini, M. K., Ogg, G., Knight, J. C., Peng, Y., Rowland-Jones, S. L., Dong, T.. 2021-04-08. The impact of viral mutations on recognition by SARS-CoV-2 specific T-cells. https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.04.08.438904

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