Table 2.
Detection of SARS-CoV-2 spike- and N-specific CD8+ T-lymphocytes from the lungs of both unvaccinated and vaccinated K18-hACE2 mice before and after infection a.
| Control | Spike-DNA | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peptide | Spike | N | Spike | N | ||||
| Days | IFN-γ+ | Triple | IFN-γ+ | Triple | IFN-γ+ | Triple | IFN-γ+ | Triple |
| −7 | <0.01 | <0.01 | <0.01 | <0.01 | 4.30 | 1.49 | <0.01 | <0.01 |
| +4 | 6.36 | 4.36 | 2.35 | 1.26 | 5.21 | 1.01 | <0.01 | <0.01 |
| +6 | 7.11 | 1.86 | 0.62 | 0.12 | 1.71 | <0.01 | <0.01 | <0.01 |
The percentages of cells expressing IFN-γ and co-expressing IFN-γ, IL-2, and TNF-α over the total of CD8+/CD44+ T-cells within lung immune cells pooled from three/four mice, either unvaccinated or vaccinated, with spike-expressing DNA. The mean values of the percentages of cytokine-expressing cells from duplicated pooled cell cultures treated with either spike or N peptides after subtraction of values detected in cultures treated with an unrelated peptide. Detections were made 7 days before infection and both 4 and 6 days after challenge.