Did You Have COVID-19? A New T Cell Test May Provide the Answer

Maybe you attended a small family gathering and felt a little fatigued the following week — but didn’t get a COVID-19 test. Or perhaps you were not able to get tested after a known exposure, but felt sick. You may even be wondering if COVID-19 may be to blame for a lingering illness.

But what if you didn’t get a test right away when you suspected you were infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19?

Experts estimate that approximately 10% of patients with COVID-19 — hundreds of thousands of them — will develop long-COVID, suffering long-term respiratory, cardiovascular and other impairments, according to an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).¹

These long-term effects on different organ systems in the body are still being studied to inform the public health response on how to manage the large numbers of people who may need longer-term assistance as a result of illness from COVID-19.² Long-term effects can be especially serious for those with an underlying medical condition.

An Alternative to Antibody Tests

Fortunately, a new kind of test launched by Adaptive Biotechnologies looks at an individual’s T cell immune response to SARS-CoV-2 to confirm recent or past infection. The test, T-Detect™ COVID, is available now and easy to get. This test is a result of a collaboration with Microsoft to map the immune response to many diseases.

Until now, antibody tests have been widely used to look for evidence of the virus, but in a real-world study, T-Detect™ COVID outperformed leading antibody tests.3 In research involving patients up to six months after a COVID-19 diagnosis, T-Detect™ COVID demonstrated 95% sensitivity.3 That means the test correctly identified those who had COVID-19 95 times out of 100. Leading antibody tests’ sensitivity varied from 50% to 70%.³, ⁴

“A T cell test is an important tool for people who want to know if they had COVID-19 and may help them to understand and address ongoing health issues,” said Diana Berrent, founder of Survivor Corps and one of the first people in her area to get sick with the virus.

Why Should We Be Looking at T Cells?

Our adaptive immune system is nature’s most finely tuned diagnostic and the body’s natural defender. It both detects and treats diseases, including cancer, infectious diseases like COVID-19, and autoimmune disorders, in exactly the same way. It does this using specialized cells called B cells and T cells.

B cells produce the antibodies we often hear about when it comes to our body’s defenses. Antibodies are talked about often because they are easy to measure.

But T cells are the first responders of the adaptive immune system. They are responsible for signaling to B cells to produce antibodies. They also kill cells that are infected, and they remain in the body after an infection is cleared to kick-start a response if the same infection appears in the future.

T cell responses can stay in the blood long after antibody responses wane. In studies, T cells have been detected up to six months after initial symptoms of COVID-19, meaning T cells can provide an answer about past infection. ⁴,⁵

Knowing whether you have had COVID-19 can help you understand how best to manage your health with your doctor.

Getting the Answers You Need

T-Detect™ COVID test can be especially helpful if:

• You suspect you had COVID-19 but were not tested or the test was inconclusive.
• You are experiencing persistent symptoms but do not know if you have had COVID-19 in the past.
• Your antibody test came back negative but you suspect you had COVID-19.

For more information about how to get a T cell test and for test limitations, visit www.T-Detect.com. Take this simple step toward peace of mind for yourself and your family.

This test has not been cleared or approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), but has been authorized for use by the FDA under an emergency use authorization (EUA).

Testing of venous whole blood using K2 EDTA specimens is limited to laboratories designated by Adaptive Biotechnologies Corporation that are certified under the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988 (CLIA), 42 U.S.C. §263a, and meets the requirements to perform high complexity tests as described in the T-Detect COVID Test Standard Operating Procedure that was reviewed by the FDA under this EUA.

This test has been authorized only for detecting and identifying the presence of an adaptive T-cell immune response to SARS-CoV-2, not for any other viruses or pathogens.

The emergency use of this test is only authorized for the duration of the declaration that circumstances exist justifying the authorization of emergency use of in vitro diagnostics for detection and/or diagnosis of COVID-19 under Section 564(b)(1) of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, 21 U.S.C. § 360bbb3(b)(1), unless the declaration is terminated or authorization is revoked sooner.

T-Detect COVID is not indicated for use in patients under age 18.

Sources:

1. Rubin R. As their numbers grow, COVID-19 “long haulers” stump experts. Journal of the American Medical Association. 2020;324(14):1381-1383.
2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Long-Term Effects of COVID-19. Updated November 13, 2020. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/long-term-effects.html. Accessed March 2021.
3. Dalai SC, Dines JN, Snyder TM, et al. Clinical validation of a novel T-cell receptor sequencing assay for identification of recent or prior SARS-CoV-2 infection. medRxiv. 2021.
4. Elyanow R, Snyder TM, Dalai SC, et al. T-cell receptor sequencing identifies prior SARS-CoV-2 infection and correlates with neutralizing antibody titers and disease severity. medRxiv. 2021.
5. Zuo J, Dowell A, Pearce H, et al. Robust SARS-CoV-2-specific T-cell immunity is maintained at 6 months following primary infection. bioRxiv. 2020.