title: Understanding the T cell immune response in SARS coronavirus infection.
abstract: The severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic started in late 2002 and swiftly spread across 5 continents with a mortality rate of around 10%. Although the epidemic was eventually controlled through the implementation of strict quarantine measures, there continues a need to investigate the SARS coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and develop interventions should it re-emerge. Numerous studies have shown that neutralizing antibodies against the virus can be found in patients infected with SARS-CoV within days upon the onset of illness and lasting up to several months. In contrast, there is little data on the kinetics of T cell responses during SARS-CoV infection and little is known about their role in the recovery process. However, recent studies in mice suggest the importance of T cells in viral clearance during SARS-CoV infection. Moreover, a growing number of studies have investigated the memory T cell responses in recovered SARS patients. This review covers the available literature on the emerging importance of T cell responses in SARS-CoV infection, particularly on the mapping of cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) epitopes, longevity, polyfunctionality and human leukocyte antigen (HLA) association as well as their potential implications on treatment and vaccine development.
authors.affiliation: Singapore Immunology Network, Agency of Science Technology and Research (AStar) , Singapore 138648, Singapore ; Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, Agency of Science Technology and Research (A*Star) , Singapore 138673, Singapore.
authors.forename: Hsueh-Ling
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Janice Oh
authors.affiliation: Bioinformatics Institute, Agency of Science Technology and Research (AStar) , Singapore 138671, Singapore.
authors.forename: Samuel
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ken-En Gan
authors.affiliation: Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences, Agency of Science Technology and Research (AStar) , Singapore 117609, Singapore ; Program of Emerging Viral Diseases, Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School , Singapore 169857, Singapore ; Department of Medicine, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore , Singapore 119228, Singapore.
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bertoletti
authors.affiliation: Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, Agency of Science Technology and Research (AStar) , Singapore 138673, Singapore ; Department of Microbiology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore , Singapore 117597, Singapore.
authors.forename: Yee-Joo
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Tan
keywords: CD4+; CD8+; SARS; T-cell immunity; coronavirus; epitope; virus clearance