SARS-CoV-2 infection induces robust, neutralizing antibody responses that are stable for at least three months

Abstract

SARS-CoV-2 has caused a global pandemic with millions infected and numerous fatalities. Questions regarding the robustness, functionality and longevity of the antibody response to the virus remain unanswered. Here we report that the vast majority of infected individuals with mild-to-moderate COVID-19 experience robust IgG antibody responses against the viral spike protein, based on a dataset of 19,860 individuals screened at Mount Sinai Health System in New York City. We also show that titers are stable for at least a period approximating three months, and that anti-spike binding titers significantly correlate with neutralization of authentic SARS-CoV-2. Our data suggests that more than 90% of seroconverters make detectible neutralizing antibody responses and that these titers are stable for at least the near-term future.

A Newcastle disease virus (NDV) expressing membrane-anchored spike as a cost-effective inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine

“…The neutralization titers induced by immunization with of 1 µg of vaccine with R-DOTAP (ID 50 of ~476) and 5 µg of vaccine with AddaVax groups (ID 50 of ~515) appeared to be the highest and were comparable to each other. These titer levels are also in the higher range of human convalescent serum neutralization titers as measured in our previous studies (19,23). Interestingly, although the group receiving 5 µg of vaccine with R-DOTAP developed the most abundant binding antibodies detected by ELISA, these sera were not the most neutralizing ones suggesting R-DOTAP might have a different impact on immunogenicity compared to AddaVax.…”

A simple protein-based surrogate neutralization assay for SARS-CoV-2

“…It can be readily incorporated into existing testing platforms and may be of particular value in the selection of donors for convalescent plasma therapy and as a means of monitoring the immune response to vaccination. Given that neutralizing antibody titres have recently been shown to wane fairly rapidly in some (12)(13)(14)20) but not all (15,20) studies, the assay may also be useful for broad serosurveillance, especially as it should be more scalable than the approaches requiring viral infection assays. When coupled with epidemiological studies, it might also be used to assess the risk of infection/re-infection.…”

“…ELISA-based profiling has been developed by multiple groups and used to measure the kinetics of the antibody response in patient cohorts following SARS-CoV-2 infection. In several recent studies, including ours, this has revealed the relative stability in the IgG response to the spike and RBD over several months, and a more transient IgM and IgA response that wanes as patients convalesce (11)(12)(13)(14)(15). However, the levels of neutralizing antibodies are not typically measured in large cohorts over time [with a few notable exceptions, e.g.…”

“…However, the levels of neutralizing antibodies are not typically measured in large cohorts over time [with a few notable exceptions, e.g. (12,15)], as current assays are relatively low throughput. The relative lack of neutralizing antibody data represents a significant gap in our understanding of the immune response to SARS-CoV-2.…”

High titers of multiple antibody isotypes against the SARS-CoV-2 spike receptor-binding domain and nucleoprotein associate with better neutralization

“…These observations are in line with previously published studies and may suggest that those infected do not produce efficient neutralizing antibodies or neutralizing antibodies rapidly wane by the time samples are collected 16,27,28,29 . Detailed longitudinal studies are beginning to emerge, showing that serum antibody levels are relatively stable or decrease over time [30][31][32] . In-line with our results these studies find a positive correlation between IgG titers and neutralization 31,32 .…”