ArticlePLoS pathogens2021
SARS-CoV-2-specific circulating T follicular helper cells correlate with neutralizing antibodies and increase during early convalescence.
Article in PLoS pathogens, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 61 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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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.
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Who cites it
61 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 84 citations in OpenAlex.
- COVID-19 pandemic: the delta variant, T-cell responses, and the efficacy of developing vaccines.Inflammation research : official journal of the European Histamine Research Society ... [et al.] · 2022Pooled it
- Multi-antigen coronavirus vaccine induces potent and durable cross-protection against multiple SARS-CoV-2 variants.NPJ vaccines · 2026Article
- The Role of CD4 T Cell Repertoire and Immune Memory Mechanisms in Vaccination and Infection Immunity.Immunological reviews · 2026Review
- Coordinated immune response distinguishes duration of SARS-CoV-2 viral particle shedding in humans.iScience · 2026Article
- Human T Cell Responses to Flavivirus Vaccines.European journal of immunology · 2025Review
- Lung-resident SARS-CoV-2 peptide-specific immune responses in perfused 3D human lung explant models.Frontiers in bioengineering and biotechnology · 2025Article
- Polyfunctional T peripheral helper cells are associated with the magnitude and durability of antibody responses after COVID-19.Clinical & translational immunology · 2025Article
- Review
- Atypical and non-classical CD45RBNature communications · 2024Article
- Correlation between circulating T follicular helper cell levels after infection and a decreased risk of COVID-19 re-infection.Virologica Sinica · 2024Article
- Inducing Long Lasting B Cell and T Cell Immunity Against Multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2 Through Mutant Bacteriophage Qβ-Receptor Binding Domain Conjugate.Advanced healthcare materials · 2024Article
- Article
- The Influence of Cross-Reactive T Cells in COVID-19.Biomedicines · 2024Review
- A Broad-Spectrum Multi-Antigen mRNA/LNP-Based Pan-Coronavirus Vaccine Induced Potent Cross-Protective Immunity Against Infection and Disease Caused by Highly Pathogenic and Heavily Spike-Mutated SARS-CoV-2 Variants of Concern in the Syrian Hamster Model.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- The immune response to SARS-CoV-2 in people with HIV.Cellular & molecular immunology · 2024Review
- Measurement of IFN-γ and IL-2 for the assessment of the cellular immunity against SARS-CoV-2.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- New insights into the pathogenesis of SARS-CoV-2 during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.Frontiers in immunology · 2024Review
- Repeated mRNA vaccination sequentially boosts SARS-CoV-2-specific CD8Nature immunology · 2024Article
- High interleukin-6 levels induced by COVID-19 pneumonia correlate with increased circulating follicular helper T cell frequency and strong neutralization antibody response in the acute phase of Omicron breakthrough infection.Frontiers in immunology · 2024Observational
- Booster vaccination is required to elicit and maintain COVID-19 vaccine-induced immunity in SIV-infected macaques.Emerging microbes & infections · 2023Article
1 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
- Update of
Authors and funding
10 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
T-cell immunity is likely to play a role in protection against SARS-CoV-2 by helping generate neutralizing antibodies. We longitudinally studied CD4 T-cell responses to the M, N, and S structural proteins of SARS-CoV-2 in 26 convalescent individuals. Within the first two months following symptom onset, a majority of individuals (81%) mounted at least one CD4 T-cell response, and 48% of individuals mounted detectable SARS-CoV-2-specific circulating T follicular helper cells (cTfh, defined as CXCR5+PD1+ CD4 T cells). SARS-CoV-2-specific cTfh responses across all three protein specificities correlated with antibody neutralization with the strongest correlation observed for S protein-specific responses. When examined over time, cTfh responses, particularly to the M protein, increased in convalescence, and robust cTfh responses with magnitudes greater than 5% were detected at the second convalescent visit, a median of 38 days post-symptom onset. CD4 T-cell responses declined but persisted at low magnitudes three months and six months after symptom onset. These data deepen our understanding of antigen-specific cTfh responses in SARS-CoV-2 infection, suggesting that in addition to S protein, M and N protein-specific cTfh may also assist in the development of neutralizing antibodies and that cTfh response formation may be delayed in SARS-CoV-2 infection.
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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.