Epitopes targeted by T cells in convalescent COVID-19 patients

Quadeer, Ahmed A.; Ahmed, Syed Faraz; McKay, Matthew R.

There is growing evidence pointing to the protective role of T cells against COVID-19. Vaccines eliciting targeted T cell responses have the potential to provide robust, long-lasting immunity. However, their design requires knowledge of the SARS-CoV-2-specific epitopes that can elicit a T cell response and confer protection across a wide population. Here, we provide a unified description of emerging data of SARS-CoV-2 T cell epitopes compiled from results of 8 independent studies of convalescent COVID-19 patients. We describe features of these epitopes relevant for vaccine design, while indicating knowledge gaps that can, in part, be augmented using prior immunological data from SARS-CoV. The landscape of SARS-CoV-2 T cell epitopes that we describe can help guide SARS-CoV-2 vaccine development as well as future immunological studies. A web-based platform has also been developed to complement these efforts.