1. Persistence of Antibody and Cellular Immune Responses in COVID-19 patients over Nine Months after Infection
- Author
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Yao, Lin, Wang, Guo-Lin, Shen, Yuan, Wang, Zhuang-Ye, Zhan, Bing-Dong, Duan, Li-Jun, Lu, Bing, Shi, Chao, Gao, Yu-Meng, Peng, Hong-Hong, Wang, Guo-Qiang, Wang, Dong-Mei, Jiang, Ming-Dong, Cao, Guo-Ping, and Ma, Mai-Juan
- Subjects
memory B cell ,AcademicSubjects/MED00290 ,SARS-CoV-2 ,Major Article ,neutralizing antibody ,memory T cell ,persistence - Abstract
Background The duration of humoral and T and cell response after the infection of SARS-CoV-2 remains unclear. Methods We performed a cross-sectional study to assess the virus-specific antibody and memory T and B cell responses in COVID-19 patients up to 343 days after infection. Neutralizing antibodies and antibodies against the receptor-binding domain, spike, and nucleoprotein of SARS-CoV-2 were measured. Virus-specific memory T and B cell responses were analyzed. Results We enrolled 59 COVID-19 patients, including 38 moderate, 16 mild, and five asymptomatic patients; 31 (52.5%) were men, and 28 (47.5%) were women. The median age was 41 (interquartile range [IQR]: 30–55). The median day from symptom onset to enrollment was 317 days (range 257 to 343 days). We found that approximately 90% of patients still have detectable IgG antibodies against spike and nucleocapsid proteins and neutralizing antibodies against pseudovirus, whereas ~60% of patients had detectable IgG antibodies against receptor binding domain and surrogate virus-neutralizing antibodies. SARS-CoV-2-specific IgG + memory B cell and IFN-γ secreting T cell responses were detectable in over 70% of patients. Conclusions SARS-CoV-2-specific immune memory response persists in most patients nearly one year after infection, which provides a promising sign for prevention from reinfection and vaccination strategy.
- Published
- 2021