ArticleNature communications2022
Cross-reactive memory T cells associate with protection against SARS-CoV-2 infection in COVID-19 contacts.
Article in Nature communications, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 218 papers, 2 of them syntheses 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.
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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
218 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Pooled it
- Resolving SARS-CoV-2 CD4Cell reports. Medicine · 2022Pooled it
- Multi-antigen coronavirus vaccine induces potent and durable cross-protection against multiple SARS-CoV-2 variants.NPJ vaccines · 2026Article
- Renaissance of antiviral CD8Nature reviews. Immunology · 2026Review
- Decoding the human CD4Cell reports. Medicine · 2026Article
- Discordant Outcomes of SARS-CoV-2 Exposure in Household Contacts.Clinical immunology communications · 2026Article
- OC43 clinical isolate spike proteins have distinct carbohydrate-binding properties.Nature communications · 2026Article
- From Trait-Structured Within-Host Dynamics to SIR Models: A Multiscale Framework With Re-Exposure.Bulletin of mathematical biology · 2026Article
- Abortive infection: T cells as early, antibody-independent defenders.Nature reviews. Immunology · 2026Article
- Article
- Elevated body mass index is associated with delayed protective airway mucosal immune responses in mild SARS-CoV-2 infection.EBioMedicine · 2026Article
- HIV- and cytomegalovirus-specific human memory CD8+ T cells are activated and expanded independent of co-stimulatory signaling by T-cell receptor-specific immunotherapeutics.Journal of immunology (Baltimore, Md. : 1950) · 2026Article
- Pre-COVID-19 ex vivo cross-reactive IFN-γ cellular response to SARS-CoV-2 spike overlapping peptides is more prevalent among Kenyan compared to Swedish adults.BMC infectious diseases · 2026Article
- A Roadmap Towards the Identification and Validation of Conserved T Cell Epitope Regions in Viral Pathogen Families with Pandemic Potential.Current pharmaceutical biotechnology · 2026Article
- Working together: a multi-component intranasal vaccine provides synergistic protection against COVID-19.Signal transduction and targeted therapy · 2025Article
- Human CD4+ T cells recognize Mycobacterium tuberculosis-infected macrophages amid broader responses.The Journal of experimental medicine · 2025Article
- Article
- Whole-Blood Cellular Responses: A Promising Indicator of SARS-CoV-2 Immunity Compared to Serology.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Article
- A Multi-Antigen Broad-Spectrum Coronavirus Vaccine Induces Potent and Durable Cross-Protection Against Infection and Disease Caused by Multiple SARS-CoV-2 Variants.Research square · 2025Article
- Rethinking the evidence on COVID-19 in Africa.The Lancet. Infectious diseases · 2025Review
158 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
23 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Cross-reactive immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 have been observed in pre-pandemic cohorts and proposed to contribute to host protection. Here we assess 52 COVID-19 household contacts to capture immune responses at the earliest timepoints after SARS-CoV-2 exposure. Using a dual cytokine FLISpot assay on peripheral blood mononuclear cells, we enumerate the frequency of T cells specific for spike, nucleocapsid, membrane, envelope and ORF1 SARS-CoV-2 epitopes that cross-react with human endemic coronaviruses. We observe higher frequencies of cross-reactive (p = 0.0139), and nucleocapsid-specific (p = 0.0355) IL-2-secreting memory T cells in contacts who remained PCR-negative despite exposure (n = 26), when compared with those who convert to PCR-positive (n = 26); no significant difference in the frequency of responses to spike is observed, hinting at a limited protective function of spike-cross-reactive T cells. Our results are thus consistent with pre-existing non-spike cross-reactive memory T cells protecting SARS-CoV-2-naïve contacts from infection, thereby supporting the inclusion of non-spike antigens in second-generation vaccines.
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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.