Rapid whole-blood assay to detect SARS-CoV-2-specific memory T-cell immunity following a single dose of AstraZeneca ChAdOx1-S COVID-19 vaccine

Objectives With the ongoing emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants and potential to evade vaccine-induced neutralisation, understanding the magnitude and breadth of vaccine-induced T-cell immunity will be critical for the ongoing optimisation of vaccine approaches. Strategies that provide a rapid and easily translatable means of assessing virus-specific T-cell responses provide an opportunity to monitor the impact of vaccine rollouts in the community. In this study, we assessed whether our recently developed SARS-CoV-2 whole-blood assay could be used effectively to analyse T-cell responses following vaccination. Methods Following a median of 15 days after the first dose of the ChAdOx1-S (AstraZeneca(R)) vaccine, peripheral blood was isolated from 58 participants. Blood was incubated overnight with an overlapping set of spike protein peptides and assessed for cytokine production using a cytometric bead array. Results The majority of vaccine recipients (51/58) generated a T helper 1 response (IFN-gamma and/or IL-2) following a single dose of ChAdOx1-S. The magnitude of the IFN-gamma and IL-2 response strongly correlated in vaccine recipients. While the production of other cytokines was evident in individuals who did not generate IFN-gamma and IL-2, they showed no correlation in magnitude, nor did we see a correlation between sex or age and the magnitude of the response. Conclusions The whole-blood cytokine assay provides a rapid approach to assessing T-cell immunity against SARS-CoV-2 in vaccine recipients. While the majority of participants generated a robust SARS-CoV-2-specific T-cell response following their first dose, some did not, demonstrating the likely importance of the booster dose in improving T-cell immunity.