Trial reportThe Journal of experimental medicine2021
Highly functional virus-specific cellular immune response in asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Trial report in The Journal of experimental medicine, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 221 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
221 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 340 citations in OpenAlex.
- A systemic review of T-cell epitopes defined from the proteome of SARS-CoV-2.Virus research · 2023Pooled it
- Trial
- Children and Adults With Mild COVID-19: Dynamics of the Memory T Cell Response up to 10 Months.Frontiers in immunology · 2022Trial
- Single-cell immune profiling reveals distinct immune response in asymptomatic COVID-19 patients.Signal transduction and targeted therapy · 2021Trial
- High Frequencies of Senescent and Exhausted Natural Killer Cells and SARS-CoV-2-Specific Memory CD8Viruses · 2026Article
- Multi-antigen coronavirus vaccine induces potent and durable cross-protection against multiple SARS-CoV-2 variants.NPJ vaccines · 2026Article
- Comprehensive longitudinal profiling identifies differential frequency, epitope specificity, and effector function of CD8EBioMedicine · 2026Article
- Position-5-driven reorientation of an immunodominant HLA-A*24:02 SARS-CoV-2 epitope drives universal T cell escape.JCI insight · 2026Article
- Immunological memory to vaccines.Immunity · 2026Review
- Rapid and potent induction of protective mucosal immunity against SARS-CoV-2 by an adenovirus-vectored nanoparticle vaccine.Journal of nanobiotechnology · 2026Article
- Extensive Immunological and Inflammatory Perturbation Underpins the Respiratory Sequelae of Postacute COVID-19.Open forum infectious diseases · 2026Article
- Article
- Bacillus Calmette-Guérin as adjuvant platform enhances immunogenicity of conserved epitopes from structural proteins of SARS-CoV-2.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Article
- Neuropeptide and cytokines expression in long COVID-19 related neuropsychological sequelae: insights into NK1R-mediated neuroinflammation andFrontiers in cellular neuroscience · 2026Article
- C > U mutations generate immunogenic peptides in SARS-CoV-2.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Monitoring of antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 over 2 years and characterization of immune responses following Omicron infection in a South Indian community cohort.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Role of antiviral CD8+ T cell immunity to SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccination.Journal of virology · 2025Review
- SARS-CoV-2-ORF-3a Mediates Apoptosis Through Mitochondrial Dysfunction Modulated by the KInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2025Article
- Mannose metabolism reshapes T cell differentiation to enhance anti-tumor immunity.Cancer cell · 2025Article
- Enhanced and long-lasting SARS-CoV-2 immune memory in individuals with common cold coronavirus cross-reactive T cell immunity.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Article
161 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
28 authors at 7 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The efficacy of virus-specific T cells in clearing pathogens involves a fine balance between antiviral and inflammatory features. SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells in individuals who clear SARS-CoV-2 without symptoms could reveal nonpathological yet protective characteristics. We longitudinally studied SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells in a cohort of asymptomatic (n = 85) and symptomatic (n = 75) COVID-19 patients after seroconversion. We quantified T cells reactive to structural proteins (M, NP, and Spike) using ELISpot and cytokine secretion in whole blood. Frequencies of SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells were similar between asymptomatic and symptomatic individuals, but the former showed an increased IFN-γ and IL-2 production. This was associated with a proportional secretion of IL-10 and proinflammatory cytokines (IL-6, TNF-α, and IL-1β) only in asymptomatic infection, while a disproportionate secretion of inflammatory cytokines was triggered by SARS-CoV-2-specific T cell activation in symptomatic individuals. Thus, asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2-infected individuals are not characterized by weak antiviral immunity; on the contrary, they mount a highly functional virus-specific cellular immune response.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.