We focused on four SARS-CoV-2 epitopes (CVADYSVLY, HVGEIPVAY, NQKLIANQF and RVAGDSGFAAY) that were previously shown to elicit cellular immunity mediated by cytotoxic CD8+ T cells in patients with COVID-19 carrying HLA-B*15:01 (refs. 24–28). The gene discussed is HLA-B; the disease is COVID-19.