Association between COVID-19 Disease Severity and T Cell Receptor Repertoire

Abstract

During the COVID-19 pandemic, while most infected individuals experienced mild to moderate symptoms, a significant subset developed severe illness. A clinical test distinguishing between mild and severe cases could inform effective treatment strategies. Toward the latter stages of the pandemic, it became evident that vaccination or prior infection cannot entirely prevent reinfection. However, they are crucial in reducing the risk of severe disease by inducing T-cell memory. T cell receptors (TCRs), which can be obtained from human blood, serve as valuable biomarkers for monitoring T cell responses to SARS-CoV-2 infection. In this study, we investigated the associations between TCR metrics and COVID-19 severity and found significant associations. Furthermore, such associations could depend on the subset of TCRs used (e.g., TCRs from CD8+ T or CD4+ T cells) and when the TCRs were collected.