Institute of Virology, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, University of Cologne, 50931 Cologne, Germany.
Institute of Virology, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, University of Cologne, 50931 Cologne, Germany; German Center for Infection Research, Partner Site Bonn-Cologne, 50931 Cologne, Germany.
Cell Host Microbe. 2021 Jun 9;29(6):917-929.e4. doi: 10.1016/j.chom.2021.04.015. Epub 2021 May 3.
Understanding antibody-based SARS-CoV-2 immunity is critical for overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic and informing vaccination strategies. We evaluated SARS-CoV-2 antibody dynamics over 10 months in 963 individuals who predominantly experienced mild COVID-19. Investigating 2,146 samples, we initially detected SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in 94.4% of individuals, with 82% and 79% exhibiting serum and IgG neutralization, respectively. Approximately 3% of individuals demonstrated exceptional SARS-CoV-2 neutralization, with these "elite neutralizers" also possessing SARS-CoV-1 cross-neutralizing IgG. Multivariate statistical modeling revealed age, symptomatic infection, disease severity, and gender as key factors predicting SARS-CoV-2-neutralizing activity. A loss of reactivity to the virus spike protein was observed in 13% of individuals 10 months after infection. Neutralizing activity had half-lives of 14.7 weeks in serum versus 31.4 weeks in purified IgG, indicating a rather long-term IgG antibody response. Our results demonstrate a broad spectrum in the initial SARS-CoV-2-neutralizing antibody response, with sustained antibodies in most individuals for 10 months after mild COVID-19.
了解基于抗体的 SARS-CoV-2 免疫对于克服 COVID-19 大流行和指导疫苗接种策略至关重要。我们评估了 963 名主要经历轻症 COVID-19 的个体在 10 个月内的 SARS-CoV-2 抗体动态。通过对 2146 个样本的检测，我们最初在 94.4%的个体中检测到了 SARS-CoV-2 抗体，其中 82%和 79%分别显示血清和 IgG 中和作用。大约 3%的个体表现出了异常的 SARS-CoV-2 中和作用，这些“精英中和者”也具有 SARS-CoV-1 交叉中和 IgG。多变量统计模型显示，年龄、有症状感染、疾病严重程度和性别是预测 SARS-CoV-2 中和活性的关键因素。在感染 10 个月后，有 13%的个体对病毒刺突蛋白的反应性丧失。中和活性在血清中的半衰期为 14.7 周，在纯化 IgG 中的半衰期为 31.4 周，表明 IgG 抗体反应具有相当长的持久性。我们的研究结果表明，在轻症 COVID-19 后 10 个月，大多数个体的 SARS-CoV-2 中和抗体反应呈现出广泛的谱。
