Pediatric COVID-19 patients in South Brazil show abundant viral mRNA and strong specific anti-viral responses

• Autor(a) principal: Fazolo, Tiago
• Data de Publicação: 2021
• Outros Autores: Lima, Karina Rodrigues, Fontoura, Júlia Crispim da, Souza, Priscila Oliveira de, Hilario, Gabriel Tardin Mota, Zorzetto, Renata, Rodrigues Júnior, Luiz Carlos, Pscheidt, Veridiane Maria, Ferreira Neto, Jayme de Castilhos, Gambin, Izza, Mello, Raíssa Silva de, Gutierres, Matheus de Bastos Balbé e, Callegari-Jacques, Sidia Maria, Bonorino, Cristina
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional da UFRGS
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10183/247009
• topic: COVID-19 (Doença); Resposta imune; Perfil imunológico

COVID-19 manifests as a milder disease in children than adults, but the underlying mechanisms are not fully characterized. Here we assess the difference in cellular or humoral immune responses of pediatric and adult COVID-19 patients to see if these factors contribute to the severity dichotomy. Children’s non-specific immune profile is dominated by naive lymphocytes and HLA-DRhighCX3CR1low dendritic cells; meanwhile, children show strong specific antibody and T cell responses for viral structural proteins, with their T cell responses differing from adults by having weaker CD8+TNF+ T cells responses to S peptide pool but stronger responses to N and M peptide pools. Finally, viral mRNA is more abundant in pediatric patients. Our data thus support a scenario in which SARS-CoV-2 infected children contribute to transmission yet are less susceptible to COVID-19 symptoms due to strong and differential responses to the virus.