This study led by the Imperial College London was recently published by Nature Communications.
In the study, SARS-CoV-2 humoral and cellular immunity in 86 healthcare workers with laboratory confirmed mild or asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection during the first wave was analysed. Symptom questionnaires allow stratification into those with persistent symptoms and those without for comparison.
During the period up to 18-weeks post-infection, the authors did not observe difference in antibody responses to spike RBD or nucleoprotein, virus neutralization, or T cell responses. Analysis at 1-year, after two vaccine doses, comparing those with persistent symptoms to those without, showed similar SARS-CoV-2 immunity again.
The main conclusion from this study is that development of persistent symptoms is not explicitly correlated with a differential T cell or Ab response to acute viral infection.
