Children develop robust and sustained cross-reactive spike-specific immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Dowell, ACORCID logo; Butler, MS; Jinks, E; Tut, G; Lancaster, TORCID logo; Sylla, P; Begum, J; Bruton, R; Pearce, HORCID logo; Verma, K; +34 more...Logan, N; Tyson, GORCID logo; Spalkova, E; Margielewska-Davies, S; Taylor, GSORCID logo; Syrimi, E; Baawuah, F; Beckmann, J; Okike, IO; Ahmad, S; Garstang, JORCID logo; Brent, AJ; Brent, B; Ireland, G; Aiano, F; Amin-Chowdhury, Z; Jones, S; Borrow, RORCID logo; Linley, EORCID logo; Wright, J; Azad, R; Waiblinger, D; Davis, C; Thomson, ECORCID logo; Palmarini, M; Willett, BJORCID logo; Barclay, WS; Poh, JORCID logo; Amirthalingam, G; Brown, KE; Ramsay, MEORCID logo; Zuo, JORCID logo; Moss, PORCID logo; Ladhani, S and (2021) Children develop robust and sustained cross-reactive spike-specific immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 infection. NATURE IMMUNOLOGY, 23 (1). pp. 40-49. ISSN 1529-2908 DOI: 10.1038/s41590-021-01089-8
Copy

SARS-CoV-2 infection is generally mild or asymptomatic in children but a biological basis for this outcome is unclear. Here we compare antibody and cellular immunity in children (aged 3-11 years) and adults. Antibody responses against spike protein were high in children and seroconversion boosted responses against seasonal Beta-coronaviruses through cross-recognition of the S2 domain. Neutralization of viral variants was comparable between children and adults. Spike-specific T cell responses were more than twice as high in children and were also detected in many seronegative children, indicating pre-existing cross-reactive responses to seasonal coronaviruses. Importantly, children retained antibody and cellular responses 6 months after infection, whereas relative waning occurred in adults. Spike-specific responses were also broadly stable beyond 12 months. Therefore, children generate robust, cross-reactive and sustained immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 with focused specificity for the spike protein. These findings provide insight into the relative clinical protection that occurs in most children and might help to guide the design of pediatric vaccination regimens.


picture_as_pdf
Children develop robust and sustained cross-reactive spike-specific immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 infection.pdf
subject
Published Version
Available under Creative Commons: Attribution 4.0

View Download

Atom BibTeX OpenURL ContextObject in Span Multiline CSV OpenURL ContextObject Dublin Core Dublin Core MPEG-21 DIDL Data Cite XML EndNote HTML Citation JSON MARC (ASCII) MARC (ISO 2709) METS MODS RDF+N3 RDF+N-Triples RDF+XML RIOXX2 XML Reference Manager Refer Simple Metadata ASCII Citation EP3 XML
Export

Downloads