Manual and automated solutions for the stimulation and analysis of SARS-CoV-2-reactive T cells in whole blood samples

COVID-19 is an infectious disease caused by the virus SARS-CoV-2. More than 290 million people worldwide have been infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus between 2019-2021, with more than 5 million deaths. Vaccines are an effective tool in the fight against such pandemics by producing a strong, long-term and adaptive immune response. Many such vaccines build on the protective role of T cells by inducing T cell activation for a strong and long-lasting response. Even in the absence of virus-specific antibodies, SARS-CoV-2-reactive T cells are generated and give information about the immune status. Therefore, SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells are a good target to monitor the long-term immune response after natural infection or vaccination.

To investigate the immune response, the all-in-one SARS-CoV-2 T Cell Analysis Kit (Whole Blood), human was developed. The SARS-CoV-2 T Cell Analysis Kit, human ensures efficient stimulation and precise analysis of SARS-CoV-2–reactive T cells. In addition to the manual processing of the samples, work was carried out on an automatic processing platform for further sample measurement. The results obtained on the automated platform provided results equally as accurate to those obtained by the manual system providing precise SARS-CoV-2-specific T cell responses in blood samples from reactive donors.