Neutralizing antibody against SARS-CoV-2 spike in COVID-19 patients, health care workers, and convalescent plasma donors

Rapid and specific antibody testing is crucial for improved understanding, control, and treatment of COVID-19 pathogenesis. Herein, we describe and apply a rapid, sensitive, and accurate virus neutralization assay for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. The new assay is based on an HIV-1 lentiviral vector that contains a secreted intron Gaussia luciferase or secreted Nano-luciferase reporter cassette, pseudotyped with the SARS-CoV-2 spike (S) glycoprotein, and is validated with a plaque reduction assay using an authentic, infectious SARS-CoV-2 strain. The new assay was used to evaluate SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in serum from individuals with a broad range of COVID-19 symptoms, including intensive care unit (ICU) patients, health care workers (HCWs), and convalescent plasma donors. The highest neutralizing antibody titers were observed among ICU patients, followed by general hospitalized patients, HCWs and convalescent plasma donors. Our study highlights a wide phenotypic variation in human antibody responses against SARS-CoV-2, and demonstrates the efficacy of a novel lentivirus pseudotype assay for high-throughput serological surveys of neutralizing antibody titers in large cohorts.

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BNT162b2 SARS-CoV-2 Vaccination Elicits High Titers of Neutralizing Antibodies to Both B.1 and P.1 Variants in Previously Infected and Uninfected Subjects

Life ◽

10.3390/life11090896 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (9) ◽

pp. 896

Author(s):

Ilaria Vicenti ◽

Francesca Gatti ◽

Renzo Scaggiante ◽

Adele Boccuto ◽

Daniela Zago ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Health Care Workers ◽

Neutralizing Antibodies ◽

Vaccine Dose ◽

Neutralizing Antibody ◽

Post Vaccination ◽

Care Workers ◽

Antibody Titers ◽

Cross Neutralization ◽

Highly Correlated

We aimed to investigate neutralizing antibody titers (NtAbT) to the P.1 and B.1 SARS-CoV-2 variants in a cohort of healthy health care workers (HCW), including 20 previously infected individuals tested at baseline (BLinf, after a median of 298 days from diagnosis) and 21 days after receiving one vaccine dose (D1inf) and 15 uninfected subjects tested 21 days after the second-dose vaccination (D2uninf). All the subjects received BNT162b2 vaccination. D1inf NtAbT increased significantly with respect to BLinf against both B.1 and P.1 variants, with a fold-change significantly higher for P.1. D1inf NtAbT were significantly higher than D2uninf NtAbT, against B.1 and P.1. NtAbT against the two strains were highly correlated. P.1 NtAbT were significantly higher than B.1 NtAbT. This difference was significant for post-vaccination sera in infected and uninfected subjects. A single-dose BNT162b2 vaccination substantially boosted the NtAb response to both variants in the previously infected subjects. NtAb titers to B.1 and P.1 lineages were highly correlated, suggesting substantial cross-neutralization. Higher titers to the P.1 than to the B.1 strain were driven by the post-vaccination titers, highlighting that cross-neutralization can be enhanced by vaccination.

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Systemic Adverse Events and Use of Antipyretics Predict the Neutralizing Antibody Positivity Early after the First Dose of ChAdOx1 Coronavirus Disease Vaccine

Journal of Clinical Medicine ◽

10.3390/jcm10132844 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (13) ◽

pp. 2844

Author(s):

Ji Young Park ◽

Seong-Ho Choi ◽

Jin-Won Chung ◽

Min-Hyung Hwang ◽

Min-Chul Kim

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Adverse Events ◽

Antibody Response ◽

Health Care Workers ◽

Neutralizing Antibodies ◽

Medical Center ◽

Neutralizing Antibody ◽

Care Workers ◽

Antibody Positivity

Vaccination is considered crucial for the eradication of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19). In our medical center in Korea, most health care workers (HCWs) were vaccinated with the ChAdOx1 COVID-19 vaccine. After vaccination, many HCWs complained of adverse events (AEs). However, it remains unclear whether the production of neutralizing antibodies (NAb) was affected. Therefore, here, we aimed to evaluate AEs and early NAb production in relatively healthy Asians who received the ChAdOx1 vaccine and determine the effect of AEs and antipyretics on early NAb production against COVID-19. Of the 182 Korean HCWs who received the first dose of ChAdOx1 vaccine, 172 (94.5%) experienced ≥1 adverse events and 148 (81.3%) tested positive for NAb 33–40 days after the vaccination. NAb-positive vaccine recipients reported systemic AEs and consumed acetaminophen more frequently than NAb-negative recipients. We identified an association between antibody response and COVID-19 vaccine-related AEs. In conclusion, most ChAdOx1 vaccine recipients reported AEs in our medical center.

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Loss of Neutralizing Antibody Response to mRNA Vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 Variants: Differing Kinetics and Strong Boosting by Breakthrough Infection

10.1101/2021.12.06.471455 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

John P. Evans ◽

Cong Zeng ◽

Claire Carlin ◽

Gerard Lozanski ◽

Linda J. Saif ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Antibody Response ◽

Health Care Workers ◽

Vaccine Dose ◽

Neutralizing Antibody ◽

Breakthrough Infection ◽

Care Workers ◽

Antibody Titers ◽

Induced Immunity

AbstractThe waning efficacy of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines combined with the continued emergence of variants resistant to vaccine-induced immunity has reignited debate over the need for booster vaccines. To address this, we examined the neutralizing antibody (nAb) response against four major SARS-CoV-2 variants—D614G, Alpha (B.1.1.7), Beta (B.1.351), and Delta (B.1.617.2)—in health care workers (HCWs) at pre-vaccination, post-first and post-second mRNA vaccine dose, and six months post-second mRNA vaccine dose. Neutralizing antibody titers against all variants, especially the Delta variant, declined dramatically from four weeks to six months post-second mRNA vaccine dose. Notably, SARS-CoV-2 infection enhanced vaccine durability, and mRNA-1273 vaccinated HCWs also exhibited ~2-fold higher nAb titers than BNT162b2 vaccinated HCWs. Together these results demonstrate possible waning of protection from infection against SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant based on decreased nAb titers, dependent on COVID-19 status and the mRNA vaccine received.

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