Autoreactive T cells targeting type II pneumocyte antigens in COVID-19 convalescent patients

The role of autoreactive T cells on the course of Coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) remains elusive. Type II pneumocytes represent the main target cells of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Autoimmune responses against antigens highly expressed in type II pneumocytes may influence the severity of COVID-19 disease.

The aim of this study was to investigate autoreactive T cell responses against self-antigens highly expressed in type II pneumocytes in the blood of COVID-19 patients with severe and non-severe disease.

We collected blood samples of COVID-19 patients with varying degrees of disease severity and of pre-pandemic controls. T cell stimulation assays with peptide pools of type II pneumocyte antigens were performed in two independent cohorts to analyze the autoimmune T cell responses in patients with non-severe and severe COVID-19 disease. Target cell lysis assays were performed with lung cancer cell lines to determine the extent of cell killing by type II PAA-specific T cells.

We identified autoreactive T cell responses against four recently described self-antigens highly expressed in type II pneumocytes, known as surfactant protein A, surfactant protein B, surfactant protein C and napsin A, in the blood of COVID-19 patients. These antigens were termed type II pneumocyte-associated antigens (type II PAAs). We found that patients with non-severe COVID-19 disease showed a significantly higher frequency of type II PAA-specific autoreactive T cells in the blood when compared to severely ill patients. The presence of high frequencies of type II PAA-specific T cells in the blood of non-severe COVID-19 patients was independent of their age. We also found that napsin A-specific T cells from convalescent COVID-19 patients could kill lung cancer cells, demonstrating the functional and cytotoxic role of these T cells.

Our data suggest that autoreactive type II PAA-specific T cells have a protective role in SARS-CoV-2 infections and the presence of high frequencies of these autoreactive T cells indicates effective viral control in COVID-19 patients. Type II-PAA-specific T cells may therefore promote the killing of infected type II pneumocytes and viral clearance.