Correlation of humoral immune responses to different SARS-CoV-2 antigens with virus neutralizing antibodies and symptomatic severity in a German COVID-19 cohort

Alexandra Rockstroh; Johannes Wolf; Jasmin Fertey; Sven Kalbitz; Stefanie Schroth; Christoph Lübbert; Sebastian Ulbert; Stephan Borte

doi:10.1080/22221751.2021.1913973

Correlation of humoral immune responses to different SARS-CoV-2 antigens with virus neutralizing antibodies and symptomatic severity in a German COVID-19 cohort

Emerg Microbes Infect. 2021 Dec;10(1):774-781. doi: 10.1080/22221751.2021.1913973.

Authors

Alexandra Rockstroh¹, Johannes Wolf^{2

3}, Jasmin Fertey¹, Sven Kalbitz⁴, Stefanie Schroth⁴, Christoph Lübbert^{4

5

6}, Sebastian Ulbert¹, Stephan Borte^{2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology, Leipzig, Germany.
² Department of Laboratory Medicine, Hospital St. Georg, Leipzig, Germany.
³ ImmunoDeficiencyCenter Leipzig (IDCL) at Hospital St. Georg Leipzig, Jeffrey Modell Diagnostic and Research Center for Primary Immunodeficiency Diseases, Leipzig, Germany.
⁴ Department of Infectious Diseases/Tropical Medicine, Nephrology and Rheumatology, Hospital St. Georg, Leipzig, Germany.
⁵ Interdisciplinary Center for Infectious Diseases, Leipzig University Hospital, Leipzig, Germany.
⁶ Division of Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine, Department of Medicine II, Leipzig University Hospital, Leipzig, Germany.

Abstract

Monitoring the humoral protective immune response and its durability after SARS-CoV-2 infections is essential for risk assessment of reinfections, the improvement of diagnostic methods and the evaluation of vaccine trials. We have analyzed neutralizing antibodies and IgG responses specific to different antigens, including the inactivated whole-virion of SARS-CoV-2, the spike subunit 1 protein and its receptor binding domain, as well as the nucleocapsid protein. We show the dynamic developments of the responses from the early convalescent stages up to 9 months post symptoms onset in follow-up samples from 57 COVID-19 patients with varying clinical severity. By correlating antibody signals to neutralizing titres, valid diagnostic markers for the estimation of neutralizing protection could be identified.

Keywords: COVID-19; RBD-ELISA; S1-ELISA; humoral immunity; inactivated SARS-CoV-2; neutralizing antibodies; nucleocapsid-ELISA.

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Adult
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Antibodies, Neutralizing / blood*
Antibodies, Viral / blood*
Antigens, Viral / immunology*
COVID-19 / immunology*
COVID-19 / virology*
Child
Cohort Studies
Coronavirus Nucleocapsid Proteins / immunology
Female
Follow-Up Studies
Germany
Humans
Immunity, Humoral*
Immunoglobulin G / blood
Male
Middle Aged
Pandemics
Phosphoproteins / immunology
SARS-CoV-2 / immunology*
Severity of Illness Index
Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus / immunology
Time Factors
Virion / immunology
Young Adult

Substances

Antibodies, Neutralizing
Antibodies, Viral
Antigens, Viral
Coronavirus Nucleocapsid Proteins
Immunoglobulin G
Phosphoproteins
Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus
nucleocapsid phosphoprotein, SARS-CoV-2
spike protein, SARS-CoV-2

Grants and funding

This publication was supported by Saxon State Ministry for Science, Culture and Tourism (grant SaxoCOV) and the European Virus Archive GLOBAL (EVA-GLOBAL) project that has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No 871029.