title: Long-lived memory T lymphocyte responses against SARS coronavirus nucleocapsid protein in SARS-recovered patients.
abstract: The nucleocapsid (N) protein is a structural component of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and can induce antibody responses in SARS patients during infection. However, it is not known whether SARS-CoV N protein can induce a long persistence of memory T-cell response in human. In this study, we found that peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from fully recovered SARS individuals rapidly produced IFN-gamma and IL-2 following stimulation with a pool of overlapping peptides that cover the entire N protein sequence. The N-specific IFN-gamma(+)CD4(+) T cells were mainly composed of CD45RA(-)CCR7(+)CD62L(-) cells, whereas IFN-gamma(+)CD8(+) memory T cells were mostly contained within CD45RA(+)CCR7(-)CD62L(-) cell population. Epitope mapping study indicated that a cluster of overlapping peptides located in the C-terminal region (amino acids [aa] 331 to 362) of N protein contained at least two different T-cell epitopes. The results indicated that human memory T-cell responses specific for SARS-CoV N protein could persist for 2 years in the absence of antigen, which would be a valuable for the design of effective vaccines against SARS-CoV and for basic studies of human T-cell memory.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, Zhongshan Medical School, Sun Yat-sen University, No. 74 Zhongshan Road II, Guangzhou 510089, China.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.forename: Li-tao
authors.initials: LT
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Ling-yun
authors.initials: LY
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Zhi-qiang
authors.initials: ZQ
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Richard A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Koup
authors.forename: Robert T
authors.initials: RT
authors.lastname: Bailer
authors.forename: Chang-you
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Wu
mesh_terms: D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D018414:CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D000086462:Coronavirus Nucleocapsid Proteins; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007156:Immunologic Memory / Q000276:immunology*; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D019590:Nucleocapsid Proteins / Q000276:immunology*; D045473:Severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology*; D045169:Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome / Q000276:immunology* / Q000821:virology
chemical_list: D000086462:Coronavirus Nucleocapsid Proteins; D019590:Nucleocapsid Proteins; D007371:Interferon-gamma