Pediatric COVID-19 patients in South Brazil show abundant viral mRNA and strong specific anti-viral responses.
Tiago FazoloKarina LimaJulia C FontouraPriscila Oliveira de SouzaGabriel HilarioRenata ZorzettoLuiz Rodrigues JúniorVeridiane Maria PscheidtJayme de Castilhos Ferreira NetoAlisson F HaubertIzza GambinAline C OliveiraRaissa S MelloMatheus de Bastos Balbe E GutierresRodrigo Benedetti GassenLais Durço CoimbraAlexandre BorinRafael Elias MarquesIvaine Tais Sauthier SartorGabriela Oliveira ZavagliaIngrid Rodrigues FernandesHelder Imoto NakayaFernanda Hammes VarelaMárcia Polese-BonattoThiago J BorgesSidia Maria Callegari-JacquesMarcela Santos Correa Da CostaJaqueline de Araujo SchwartzMarcelo Comerlato ScottaRenato T SteinCristina BonorinoPublished in: Nature communications (2021)
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.