T‐cell responses to SARS‐CoV‐2 Omicron spike epitopes with mutations after the third booster dose of an inactivated vaccine

Abstract

The rapidly spreading severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) Omicron variant contains more than 30 mutations that mediate escape from antibody responses elicited by prior infection or current vaccines. Fortunately, T‐cell responses are highly conserved in most individuals, but the impacts of mutations are not clear. Here, we showed that the T‐cell responses of individuals who underwent booster vaccination with CoronaVac were largely protective against the SARS‐CoV‐2 Omicron spike protein. To specifically estimate the impact of Omicron mutations on vaccinated participants, 16 peptides derived from the spike protein of the ancestral virus or Omicron strain with mutations were used to stimulate peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from the volunteers. Compared with the administration of two doses of vaccine, booster vaccination substantially enhanced T‐cell activation in response to both the ancestral and Omicron epitopes, although the enhancement was slightly weakened by the Omicron mutations. Then, the peptides derived from these spike proteins were used separately to stimulate PBMCs. Interestingly, compared with the ancestral peptides, only the peptides with the G339D or N440K mutation were detected to significantly destabilize the T‐cell response. Although more participants need to be evaluated to confirm this conclusion, our study nonetheless estimates the impacts of mutations on T‐cell responses to the SARS‐CoV‐2 Omicron variant.