Twin study suggests T cells may be key to COVID-19 reinfection

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2022-02-02 11:01

International

A study on three sets of twins in Brazil suggests that a lack of T-cell response to the initial COVID-19 infection may be what makes someone more susceptible to catching COVID-19 again. The researchers looked at multiple aspects of the immune response across three sets of twins who had all caught COVID-19, including a pair of twins who both had mild COVID-19 but then one twin also went on to get reinfected. They found that the T-cell response was the only immune response that was substantially lower in the twin who got reinfected with COVID-19. They say this suggests that T cell immune responses may be important for protection against reinfection.

Media release

From: The Royal Society

Recurrence of COVID-19 associated with reduced T cell responses in a monozygotic twin pair

Recurrence of COVID-19 in recovered patients has been increasingly reported. However, the immune mechanisms behind this have not been thoroughly investigated. Studies with monozygotic (MZ) twins are a valuable approach for understanding the immunogenetics of infectious diseases. We investigated different immune responses against SARS-CoV-2 in three pairs of recovered young-adult MZ twins, one twin presenting severe recurrence 4 months after the initial infection. This recurrence case presented a drastically lack of T cell response against the virus, which may emphasize that an effective SARS-CoV-2-specific T cell immune response is key for viral control and avoidance of clinical recurrence of COVID-19.

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Journal/
conference: Open Biology

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil

Funder: This work was supported by the Sao Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) (grant nos. 2013/08028-1, 2014/50890-5, 2014/ 50931-3 and 2020/09702-1), the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) (grant nos. 465434/2014-2 and 465355/2014-5) and JBS S.A (grant no. 69004).

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