{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,18]],"date-time":"2026-05-18T06:03:35Z","timestamp":1779084215776,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":36,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,1,18]],"date-time":"2022-01-18T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1642464000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Immunol."],"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title>Background<\/jats:title><jats:p>Despite similar rates of infection, adults and children have markedly different morbidity and mortality related to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). Compared to adults, children have infrequent severe manifestations of acute infection but are uniquely at risk for the rare and often severe Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C) following infection. We hypothesized that these differences in presentation are related to differences in the magnitude and\/or antigen specificity of SARS-CoV-2-specific T cell (CST) responses between adults and children. We therefore set out to measure the CST response in convalescent adults versus children with and without MIS-C following SARS-CoV-2 infection.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title><jats:p>CSTs were expanded from blood collected from convalescent children and adults post SARS-CoV-2 infection and evaluated by intracellular flow cytometry, surface markers, and cytokine production following stimulation with SARS-CoV-2-specific peptides. Presence of serum\/plasma antibody to spike and nucleocapsid was measured using the luciferase immunoprecipitation systems (LIPS) assay.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Findings<\/jats:title><jats:p>Twenty-six of 27 MIS-C patients, 7 of 8 non-MIS-C convalescent children, and 13 of 14 adults were seropositive for spike and nucleocapsid antibody. CST responses in MIS-C patients were significantly higher than children with uncomplicated SARS-CoV-2 infection, but weaker than CST responses in convalescent adults.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Interpretation<\/jats:title><jats:p>Age-related differences in the magnitude of CST responses suggest differing post-infectious immunity to SARS-CoV-2 in children compared to adults post uncomplicated infection. Children with MIS-C have CST responses that are stronger than children with uncomplicated SARS-CoV-2 infection and weaker than convalescent adults, despite near uniform seropositivity.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fimmu.2021.793197","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,1,18]],"date-time":"2022-01-18T04:38:52Z","timestamp":1642480732000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":19,"title":["SARS-CoV-2-Specific T Cell Responses Are Stronger in Children With Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome Compared to Children With Uncomplicated SARS-CoV-2 Infection"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"12","author":[{"given":"Susan R.","family":"Conway","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Christopher A.","family":"Lazarski","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Naomi E.","family":"Field","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Mariah","family":"Jensen-Wachspress","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Haili","family":"Lang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Vaishnavi","family":"Kankate","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jessica","family":"Durkee-Shock","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Hannah","family":"Kinoshita","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"William","family":"Suslovic","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Kathleen","family":"Webber","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Karen","family":"Smith","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jeffrey I.","family":"Cohen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Peter D.","family":"Burbelo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Anqing","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Stephen J.","family":"Teach","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Trisha","family":"Ibeh","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Meghan","family":"Delaney","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Roberta L.","family":"DeBiasi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Michael D.","family":"Keller","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Catherine M.","family":"Bollard","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,1,18]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/cid\/ciaa556","article-title":"SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19): What Do We Know About Children? 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