Signature of long-lived memory CD8⁺ T cells in acute SARS-CoV-2 infection

Immunological memory is a hallmark of adaptive immunity and facilitates an accelerated and enhanced immune response upon re-infection with the same pathogen^1,2. Since the outbreak of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, a key question has focused on which SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells stimulated during acute infection give rise to long-lived memory T cells³. Here, using spectral flow cytometry combined with cellular indexing of transcriptomes and T cell receptor sequencing, we longitudinally characterized individual SARS-CoV-2-specific CD8⁺ T cells of patients with COVID-19 from acute infection to 1 year into recovery and found a distinct signature identifying long-lived memory CD8⁺ T cells. SARS-CoV-2-specific memory CD8⁺ T cells persisting 1 year after acute infection express CD45RA, IL-7 receptor-α and T cell factor 1, but they maintain low expression of CCR7, thus resembling CD45RA⁺ effector memory T cells. Tracking individual clones of SARS-CoV-2-specific CD8⁺ T cells, we reveal that an interferon signature marks clones that give rise to long-lived cells, whereas prolonged proliferation and mechanistic target of rapamycin signalling are associated with clonal disappearance from the blood. Collectively, we describe a transcriptional signature that marks long-lived, circulating human memory CD8⁺ T cells following an acute viral infection.