Journal Article

Twelve-month specific IgG response to SARS-CoV-2 receptor-binding domain among COVID-19 convalescent plasma donors in Wuhan

Hu, Yong, Yu, Jianhong, Zhou, Zhijun, Li, Taojing, Zhou, Rong, Yue, Shenglan, Lu, Fengping, Dong, Demei, Lin, Lianzhen, He, Yanlin, Zhang, Ya, Zhou, Dongbo, Guo, Huanhuan, Yang, Xiaoming, Lu, Jia, Ning, Haoran, Zhang, Xinxin, Zou, Xia, Fu, Daoxing, Wu, Junzheng, Liang, Hong, Peng, Yan, Duan, Kai, Deng, Kun, Gao, Yang, Feng, Lu, Xie, Yong, Wu, Xiao, Yang, Huichuan, Yu, Ding, Du, Tao, Wang, Feifei, Li, Cesheng, Mao, Min, Wang, Zejun, Zhang, Yong

2021

Overview

To investigate the duration of humoral immune response in convalescent coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients, we conduct a 12-month longitudinal study through collecting a total of 1,782 plasma samples from 869 convalescent plasma donors in Wuhan, China and test specific antibody responses. The results show that positive rate of IgG antibody against receptor-binding domain of spike protein (RBD-IgG) to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in the COVID-19 convalescent plasma donors exceeded 70% for 12 months post diagnosis. The level of RBD-IgG decreases with time, with the titer stabilizing at 35.7% of the initial level by the 9th month. Moreover, male plasma donors produce more RBD-IgG than female, and age of the patients positively correlates with the RBD-IgG titer. A strong positive correlation between RBD-IgG and neutralizing antibody titers is also identified. These results facilitate our understanding of SARS-CoV-2-induced immune memory to promote vaccine and therapy development. COVID-19 pandemic is a global health risk, but our understanding on the induced durable immunity remains scarce. Here the authors assess antibody responses in 869 convalescent COVID-19 patients to find that specific antibody titers reduce with time, and the RBD-IgG positive rate exceed 70% at 12 month post diagnosis, with male and older patients showing stronger responses.

• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group UK,Nature Publishing Group,Nature Portfolio
• Subject: 13/1 / 631/250/2152 / 631/250/2152/2153/1291 / 631/250/2499 / 631/250/255/2514 / 9/10 / Antibodies / Binding / Coronaviruses / Correlation analysis / COVID-19 / Diagnosis / Global health / Health risks / Humanities and Social Sciences / IgG antibody / Immune response / Immune response (humoral) / Immune system / Immunoglobulin G / Immunological memory / Longitudinal studies / Males / multidisciplinary / Pandemics / Plasma / Public health / Receptors / Science / Science (multidisciplinary) / Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 / Spike protein / Viral diseases