{"doi":"10.1101/2023.05.16.23290059","title":"Distinct T cell functional profiles in SARS-CoV-2 seropositive and seronegative children associated with endemic human coronavirus cross-reactivity","abstract":"SARS-CoV-2 infection in children typically results in asymptomatic or mild disease. There is a paucity of studies on antiviral immunity in African children. We investigated SARS-CoV-2-specific T cell responses in 71 unvaccinated asymptomatic South African children who were seropositive or seronegative for SARS-CoV-2. SARS-CoV-2-specific CD4+ T cell responses were detectable in 83% of seropositive and 60% of seronegative children. Although the magnitude of the CD4+ T cell response did not differ significantly between the two groups, their functional profiles were distinct, with SARS-CoV-2 seropositive children exhibiting a higher proportion of polyfunctional T cells compared to their seronegative counterparts. The frequency of SARS-CoV-2-specific CD4+ T cells in seronegative children was associated with the endemic human coronavirus (HCoV) HKU1 IgG response. Overall, the presence of SARS-CoV-2-responding T cells in seronegative children may result from cross-reactivity to endemic coronaviruses and could contribute to the relative protection from disease observed in SARS-CoV-2-infected children.","journal":"medRxiv","year":2023,"id":399446,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":1,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.954,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2023-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":633144,"name":"Marius B. Tincho","orcid":"0000-0002-1293-5933","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1098097,"name":"Avril Walters","orcid":null,"position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1098098,"name":"Vennesa Subbiah","orcid":null,"position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":633148,"name":"Amkele Ngomti","orcid":"0000-0002-6155-1354","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":633146,"name":"Richard Baguma","orcid":"0000-0002-5106-021X","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1097658,"name":"Claire Butters","orcid":"0000-0001-8153-6680","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":633150,"name":"Mathilda Mennen","orcid":"0009-0006-1169-4812","position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":633865,"name":"Sango Skelem","orcid":null,"position":8,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":804016,"name":"Marguerite Adriaanse","orcid":"0009-0001-2895-8160","position":9,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1097662,"name":"Strauss van Graan","orcid":"0000-0003-4506-0763","position":10,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1097663,"name":"Sashkia R. Balla","orcid":"0000-0002-5522-2968","position":11,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":501393,"name":"Thandeka Moyo-Gwete","orcid":"0000-0002-4269-9281","position":12,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":138629,"name":"Penny L. Moore","orcid":"0000-0001-8719-4028","position":13,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":679366,"name":"Maresa Botha","orcid":null,"position":14,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":242153,"name":"Lesley Workman","orcid":"0000-0002-3433-6106","position":15,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":5182,"name":"Heather J. Zar","orcid":"0000-0002-9046-759X","position":16,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":91456,"name":"Ntobeko A. B. Ntusi","orcid":"0000-0003-2347-7883","position":17,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":61531,"name":"Liesl Zühlke","orcid":"0000-0003-3961-2760","position":18,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":658371,"name":"Kate Webb","orcid":"0000-0003-1087-5946","position":19,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":330707,"name":"Catherine Riou","orcid":"0000-0001-9679-0745","position":20,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":584841,"name":"Wendy A. Burgers","orcid":"0000-0003-3396-9398","position":21,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":633143,"name":"Roanne Keeton","orcid":"0000-0003-4808-9756","position":22,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":633145,"name":"Ntombi Benede","orcid":"0000-0002-3319-8215","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":76,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T01:19:56.084411Z","pmid":"37292954","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}