TY  - JOUR
AU  - Dulovic, Alex
AU  - Rabsteyn, Armin
AU  - Remppis, Jonathan
AU  - Gentzcke, Irene K E
AU  - Mueller, Julia
AU  - Tuecks, Nadja
AU  - Becker, Matthias
AU  - Junker, Daniel
AU  - Kaiser, Philipp D
AU  - Traenkle, Bjoern
AU  - Rothbauer, Ulrich
AU  - Walz, Juliane S
AU  - Peter, Andreas
AU  - Hörber, Sebastian
AU  - Ganzenmueller, Tina
AU  - Iftner, Thomas
AU  - Stich, Maximilian
AU  - Tönshoff, Burkhard
AU  - Henneke, Philipp
AU  - Elling, Roland
AU  - Debatin, Klaus-Michael
AU  - Janda, Ales
AU  - Schneiderhan-Marra, Nicole
AU  - Franz, Axel R
AU  - Lang, Peter
AU  - Renk, Hanna
TI  - Longitudinal analysis of humoral and cellular immunity in SARS-CoV-2 exposed families.
JO  - Scientific reports
VL  - 15
IS  - 1
SN  - 2045-2322
CY  - [London]
PB  - Springer Nature
M1  - DKFZ-2025-01450
SP  - 26041
PY  - 2025
AB  - Identification of previous SARS-CoV-2 infection typically relies on serology, yet T-cells play a key role in the adaptive immune response against SARS-CoV-2. Here, we investigated in parallel the SARS-CoV-2-specific as well as endemic human coronavirus-specific humoral and cross-reactive cellular responses in children and adults. We analyzed clinical data and blood samples from a family cohort of 96 children and 144 adults at 3-4 and 11-12 months after their first contact with SARS-CoV-2. Humoral response was assessed by a multiplex immunoassay with high sensitivity and specificity (MULTICOV-AB). Cellular responses were analyzed by IFN-γ ELISPOT using four different established epitope compositions (ECs) to discriminate between SARS-CoV-2 specific and HCoV cross-reactive T-cell responses. While the majority of adults had a combined serological and T-cell response, relatively more children had a T-cell response alone rather than a combined response. The magnitude of the T-cell response correlated with symptoms and the humoral response. In addition, SARS-CoV-2 infection significantly boosted the endemic coronavirus-specific cellular response. Overall, our data suggest discordant humoral and cellular responses, reflecting either abortive infection, cellular sensitization with rapid viral clearance or rapid antibody waning or a combination of these phenomena. Restricting epidemiologic analysis to SARS-CoV-2 serological data may underestimate rates of infection with or at least exposure to SARS-CoV-2 in children.
KW  - Humans
KW  - COVID-19: immunology
KW  - Immunity, Humoral
KW  - SARS-CoV-2: immunology
KW  - Adult
KW  - Immunity, Cellular
KW  - Male
KW  - Female
KW  - Child
KW  - Longitudinal Studies
KW  - Antibodies, Viral: blood
KW  - Antibodies, Viral: immunology
KW  - Middle Aged
KW  - Child, Preschool
KW  - T-Lymphocytes: immunology
KW  - Adolescent
KW  - Young Adult
KW  - Infant
KW  - Cross Reactions
KW  - Antibodies, Viral (NLM Chemicals)
LB  - PUB:(DE-HGF)16
C6  - pmid:40681584
C2  - pmc:PMC12274566
DO  - DOI:10.1038/s41598-025-07739-3
UR  - https://inrepo02.dkfz.de/record/303003
ER  -