Evaluating SARS-CoV-2 antibody reactivity to natural exposure and inactivated vaccination with peptide microarrays

Peiyan Zheng; Jing Ma; Jiao Yang; Baolin Liao; Zhangkai J Cheng; Mingshan Xue; Shiyun Li; Yanting Fang; Runpei Lin; Guizhen Zhang; Huimin Huang; Fengyu Hu; Hongwei Ma; Baoqing Sun

doi:10.3389/fimmu.2023.1079960

Evaluating SARS-CoV-2 antibody reactivity to natural exposure and inactivated vaccination with peptide microarrays

Front Immunol. 2023 Feb 20:14:1079960. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1079960. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Peiyan Zheng^{1

2}, Jing Ma^{1

2

3}, Jiao Yang⁴, Baolin Liao⁵, Zhangkai J Cheng^{1

2}, Mingshan Xue^{1

2}, Shiyun Li^{1

2}, Yanting Fang^{1

2}, Runpei Lin^{1

2}, Guizhen Zhang^{1

2}, Huimin Huang^{1

2}, Fengyu Hu⁵, Hongwei Ma⁴, Baoqing Sun^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Health, State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Disease, National Center for Respiratory Medicine, Guangzhou Laboratory, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
² Department of Laboratory, Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Health, State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Disease, National Center for Respiratory Medicine, Guangzhou Laboratory, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
³ Department of Clinical Laboratory, Luoyang Central Hospital Affiliated to Zhengzhou University, Henan, China.
⁴ Division of Nanobiomedicine, Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Suzhou, China.
⁵ Guangzhou Eighth People's Hospital, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China.

Abstract

Objective: Vaccination is effective tool for preventing and controlling SARS-CoV-2 infections, and inactivated vaccines are the most widely used type of vaccine. In order to identify antibody-binding peptide epitopes that can distinguish between individuals who have been vaccinated and those who have been infected, this study aimed to compare the immune responses of vaccinated and infected individuals.

Methods: SARS-CoV-2 peptide microarrays were used to assess the differences between 44 volunteers inoculated with the inactivated virus vaccine BBIBP-CorV and 61 patients who were infected with SARS-CoV-2. Clustered heatmaps were used to identify differences between the two groups in antibody responses to peptides such as M1, N24, S15, S64, S82, S104, and S115. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was used to determine whether a combined diagnosis with S15, S64, and S104 could effectively distinguish infected patients from vaccinated individuals.

Results: Our findings showed that the specific antibody responses against S15, S64, and S104 peptides were stronger in vaccinators than in infected persons, while responses to M1, N24, S82, and S115 were weaker in asymptomatic patients than in symptomatic patients. Additionally, two peptides (N24 and S115) were found to correlate with the levels of neutralizing antibodies.

Conclusion: Our results suggest that antibody profiles specific to SARS-CoV-2 can be used to distinguish between vaccinated individuals and those who are infected. The combined diagnosis with S15, S64, and S104 was found to be more effective in distinguishing infected patients from those who have been vaccinated than the diagnosis using individual peptides. Moreover, the specific antibody responses against the N24 and S115 peptides were found to be consistent with the changing trend of neutralizing antibodies.

Keywords: SARS-CoV-2; antibody response; asymptomatic infections; peptide microarrays; vaccination.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Antibodies, Neutralizing
Antibodies, Viral
COVID-19* / prevention & control
Humans
Peptides
SARS-CoV-2*
Vaccination

Substances

BIBP COVID-19 vaccine
Antibodies, Viral
Antibodies, Neutralizing
Peptides

Grants and funding

This study was supported by Science and Technology Innovation Committee Project of Guangzhou (Project No.: 202201020524), the emergency key project of Guangzhou Laboratory (EKPG21-30-2), Cultivation Project of the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University (ZH202105), Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation: Regional Joint Fund-Youth (2022A1515110555), and National Natural Science Foundation of China (31901065).