Profiling SARS-CoV-2 HLA-I peptidome reveals T cell epitopes from out-of-frame ORFs.

Cell
Authors
Keywords
Abstract

T cell-mediated immunity plays an important role in controlling SARS-CoV-2 infection, but the repertoire of naturally processed and presented viral epitopes on class I human leukocyte antigen (HLA-I) remains uncharacterized. Here, we report the first HLA-I immunopeptidome of SARS-CoV-2 in two cell lines at different times post infection using mass spectrometry. We found HLA-I peptides derived not only from canonical open reading frames (ORFs) but also from internal out-of-frame ORFs in spike and nucleocapsid not captured by current vaccines. Some peptides from out-of-frame ORFs elicited T cell responses in a humanized mouse model and individuals with COVID-19 that exceeded responses to canonical peptides, including some of the strongest epitopes reported to date. Whole-proteome analysis of infected cells revealed that early expressed viral proteins contribute more to HLA-I presentation and immunogenicity. These biological insights, as well as the discovery of out-of-frame ORF epitopes, will facilitate selection of peptides for immune monitoring and vaccine development.

Year of Publication
2021
Journal
Cell
Volume
184
Issue
15
Pages
3962-3980.e17
Date Published
2021 07 22
ISSN
1097-4172
DOI
10.1016/j.cell.2021.05.046
PubMed ID
34171305
PubMed Central ID
PMC8173604
Links
Grant list
R01 AI091707 / AI / NIAID NIH HHS / United States
U24 CA210986 / CA / NCI NIH HHS / United States
U19 AI082630 / AI / NIAID NIH HHS / United States
R21 CA216772 / CA / NCI NIH HHS / United States
U24 CA210979 / CA / NCI NIH HHS / United States
U01 CA214125 / CA / NCI NIH HHS / United States
HHSN261200800001C / RC / CCR NIH HHS / United States
U19 AI110818 / AI / NIAID NIH HHS / United States
HHSN261200800001E / CA / NCI NIH HHS / United States