While antibodies have been the focus of testing for past infection with COVID-19, T cells will also provide some insights -- potentially better ones, experts say.
These lymphocytes are the first responders that then coordinate the immune response while building an imprint, a memory, so that subsequent infections fade quickly, often unnoticed.
T cell tests are more complex and typically reserved for research, but some may be coming to the clinic soon, with at least one company seeking FDA emergency use authorization (EUA). Recent studies indicate that assaying T cells can even improve diagnostic accuracy and possibly predict how COVID-19 will unfold.
"Testing T cell responses can accelerate detection of an infection by as much as a week. The cells come in on day 2 and they divide very quickly, to detectable levels as early as 3 or 4 days from infection," said Dawn Jelley-Gibbs, PhD, who investigated T cells in influenza at the Trudeau Institute in Saranac Lake, New York.
"Identifying people who have been infected and become immune could have huge benefits for enabling society to safely return to normalcy. Numerous antibody tests exist, but doubts remain about their reliability and about antibody longevity post-infection," said Maria Oliver, PhD, senior scientist at Indoor Biotechnologies in Great Britain, one of several companies developing clinical T cell tests.
T Cell Basics
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