Journal Article

Antibody Responses to SARS-CoV-2 Following an Outbreak Among Marine Recruits With Asymptomatic or Mild Infection

Nair, Venugopalan D., Letizia, Andrew G., Chikina, Maria, Phogat, Shreshta, Soares-Schanoski, Alessandra, Broder, Christopher C., Ramos, Irene, Simons, Mark P., Weir, Dawn L., Sealfon, Stuart C., Laing, Eric D., Meyer, Michelle, Termini, Michael S., Pietzsch, Colette A., Ge, Yongchao, Lizewski, Stephen, George, Mary-Catherine, Vangeti, Sindhu, Lizewski, Rhonda, Regeimbal, James, Smith, Gregory R., Goforth, Carl, Mao, Weiguang, Samuels, Emily C., Bukreyev, Alexander, Pike, Brian L., Huang, Kai, Marjanovic, Nada

2021

Overview

We investigated serological responses following a SARS-CoV-2 outbreak in spring 2020 on a US Marine recruit training base. 147 participants that were isolated during an outbreak of respiratory illness were enrolled in this study, with visits approximately 6 and 10 weeks post-outbreak (PO). This cohort is comprised of young healthy adults, ages 18-26, with a high rate of asymptomatic infection or mild symptoms, and therefore differs from previously reported longitudinal studies on humoral responses to SARS-CoV-2, which often focus on more diverse age populations and worse clinical presentation. 80.9% (119/147) of the participants presented with circulating IgG antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 spike (S) receptor-binding domain (RBD) at 6 weeks PO, of whom 97.3% (111/114) remained positive, with significantly decreased levels, at 10 weeks PO. Neutralizing activity was detected in all sera from SARS-CoV-2 IgG positive participants tested (n=38) at 6 and 10 weeks PO, without significant loss between time points. IgG and IgA antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 RBD, S1, S2, and the nucleocapsid (N) protein, as well neutralization activity, were generally comparable between those participants that had asymptomatic infection or mild disease. A multiplex assay including S proteins from SARS-CoV-2 and related zoonotic and human endemic betacoronaviruses revealed a positive correlation for polyclonal cross-reactivity to S after SARS-CoV-2 infection. Overall, young adults that experienced asymptomatic or mild SARS-CoV-2 infection developed comparable humoral responses, with no decrease in neutralizing activity at least up to 10 weeks after infection.

• Publisher: Frontiers Media SA,Frontiers Media S.A
• Subject: Antibodies / Antigens / Asymptomatic / Asymptomatic infection / COVID-19 / Cross-reactivity / Disease transmission / Dyspnea / Enzymes / Epidemics / Ethnicity / Fever / Human subjects / Immunoglobulin A / Immunoglobulin G / Immunology / Infections / Medical research / Nucleocapsids / outbreak / Outbreaks / SARS-COV-2 / Serology / Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 / Young adults / Zoonoses