Celluloepidemiology-A paradigm for quantifying infectious disease dynamics on a population level.

Journal: Science advances
Published Date: May 16, 2025

Abstract

To complement serology as a tool in public health interventions, we introduced the "celluloepidemiology" paradigm where we leveraged pathogen-specific T cell responses at a population level to advance our epidemiological understanding of infectious diseases, using SARS-CoV-2 as a model. Applying flow cytometry and machine learning on data from more than 500 individuals, we showed that the number of T cells with positive expression of functional markers not only could distinguish patients who recovered from COVID-19 from controls and pre-COVID donors but also identify previously unrecognized asymptomatic patients from mild, moderate, and severe recovered patients. The celluloepidemiology approach was uniquely capable to differentiate health care worker groups with different SARS-CoV-2 exposures from each other. T cell receptor (TCR) profiling strengthened our analysis by revealing that SARS-CoV-2-specific TCRs were more abundant in patients than in controls. We believe that adding data on T cell reactivity will complement serology and augment the value of infection morbidity modeling for populations.

Authors

  • My K Ha
    Center for Health Economics Research and Modelling Infectious Diseases (CHERMID), Vaccine and Infectious Disease Institute, University of Antwerp, Wilrijk, Belgium.
  • Anna Postovskaya
    Antwerp Unit for Data Analysis and Computation in Immunology and Sequencing (AUDACIS), University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.
  • Maria Kuznetsova
    Center for Health Economics Research and Modelling Infectious Diseases (CHERMID), Vaccine and Infectious Disease Institute, University of Antwerp, Wilrijk, Belgium.
  • Pieter Meysman
    Adrem Data Lab, Department of Computer Science, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium; Antwerp Unit for Data Analysis and Computation in Immunology and Sequencing (AUDACIS), University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium; Biomedical Informatics Research Network Antwerp (Biomina), University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.
  • Vincent Van Deuren
    Antwerp Unit for Data Analysis and Computation in Immunology and Sequencing (AUDACIS), University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.
  • Sabrina Van Ierssel
    Department of General Internal Medicine, Infectious Disease and Tropical Medicine, Antwerp University Hospital, Edegem, Belgium.
  • Hans De Reu
    Laboratory of Experimental Hematology (LEH), Vaccine & Infectious Disease Institute (VAXINFECTIO), Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.
  • Jolien Schippers
    Center for Health Economics Research and Modelling Infectious Diseases (CHERMID), Vaccine and Infectious Disease Institute, University of Antwerp, Wilrijk, Belgium.
  • Karin Peeters
    Center for Health Economics Research and Modelling Infectious Diseases (CHERMID), Vaccine and Infectious Disease Institute, University of Antwerp, Wilrijk, Belgium.
  • Hajar Besbassi
    Center for Health Economics Research and Modelling Infectious Diseases (CHERMID), Vaccine and Infectious Disease Institute, University of Antwerp, Wilrijk, Belgium.
  • Leo Heyndrickx
    Virology Unit, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium.
  • Betty Willems
    Virology Unit, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium.
  • Joachim Mariën
    Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.
  • Esther Bartholomeus
    Antwerp Unit for Data Analysis and Computation in Immunology and Sequencing (AUDACIS), University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium; Centre for Health Economics Research & Modeling Infectious Diseases (CHERMID), VAXINFECTIO, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium; Antwerp Center for Translational Immunology and Virology (ACTIV), Vaccine and Infectious Disease Institute (VAXINFECTIO), University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.
  • Koen Vercauteren
    Clinical Virology Unit, Department of Clinical Sciences, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium.
  • Philippe Beutels
    Center for Health Economics Research and Modelling Infectious Diseases (CHERMID), Vaccine and Infectious Disease Institute, University of Antwerp, Wilrijk, Belgium.
  • Pierre Van Damme
    Antwerp Unit for Data Analysis and Computation in Immunology and Sequencing (AUDACIS), University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.
  • Eva Lion
    Laboratory of Experimental Hematology (LEH), Vaccine & Infectious Disease Institute (VAXINFECTIO), Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium; Antwerp Unit for Data Analysis and Computation in Immunology and Sequencing (AUDACIS), University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium; Center for Cell Therapy & Regenerative Medicine (CCRG), Antwerp University Hospital, Edegem, Belgium. Electronic address: eva.lion@uantwerpen.be.
  • Erika Vlieghe
    Department of General Internal Medicine, Infectious Disease and Tropical Medicine, Antwerp University Hospital, Edegem, Belgium.
  • Kris Laukens
    Adrem Data Lab, Department of Computer Science, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium; Antwerp Unit for Data Analysis and Computation in Immunology and Sequencing (AUDACIS), University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium; Biomedical Informatics Research Network Antwerp (Biomina), University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.
  • Samuel Coenen
    Laboratory of Medical Microbiology (LMM), Vaccine and Infectious Disease Institute (VAXINFECTIO), University of Antwerp, Wilrijk, Belgium.
  • Reinout Naesens
    Department of Clinical Biology, Antwerp Hospital Network, Antwerp, Belgium.
  • Kevin K Ariën
    Department of Biomedical Sciences, Unit of Virology, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium; Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium. Electronic address: karien@itg.be.
  • Benson Ogunjimi
    Antwerp Unit for Data Analysis and Computation in Immunology and Sequencing (AUDACIS), University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium; Centre for Health Economics Research & Modeling Infectious Diseases (CHERMID), VAXINFECTIO, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium; Antwerp Center for Translational Immunology and Virology (ACTIV), Vaccine and Infectious Disease Institute (VAXINFECTIO), University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.

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