Fig. 7: Comparison between asymptomatic/mild and moderate/severe infection groups of effector T-cell responses to SARS-CoV-2 N and S peptides following 7-day in vitro stimulation.

a CD8⁺ T cell and b CD4⁺ T cell IFN-γ responses to N peptide restimulation from asymptomatic/mild (n = 4) and moderate/severe (n = 6) samples collected after infection were measured by flow cytometry after 7-day culture followed by 5 h restimulation. Similar comparisons of IFN-γ⁺ responses following S peptide restimulation were made for asymptomatic/mild (n = 6) and moderate/severe (n = 11) samples obtained c after infection, d PV1 and e PV2 for CD8⁺ T cells and f after infection, g PV1 and h PV2 for CD4⁺ T cells. Polyfunctional IFN-γ⁺/IL-2⁺ i CD8⁺ and j CD4⁺ T cell responses to S peptide restimulation are shown for asymptomatic/mild (n = 6) and moderate/severe (n = 11) groups. P values, calculated using the Mann–Whitney U-test, are shown above lines spanning the groups compared. Red lines bisecting groups represent median (solid) with IQR (dotted).