Discrete SARS-CoV-2 antibody titers track with functional humoral stability

Yannic C. Bartsch, Stephanie Fischinger, Sameed M. Siddiqui, Zhilin Chen, Jingyou Yu, Makda Gebre, Caroline Atyeo, Matthew J. Gorman, Alex Lee Zhu, Jaewon Kang, John S. Burke, Matthew Slein, Matthew J. Gluck, Samuel Beger, Yiyuan Hu, Justin Rhee, Eric Petersen, Benjamin Mormann, Michael de St Aubin, Mohammad A. Hasdianda, Guruprasad Jambaulikar, Edward W. Boyer, Pardis C. Sabeti, Dan H. Barouch, Boris D. Julg, Elon R. Musk, Anil S. Menon (), Douglas A. Lauffenburger (), Eric J. Nilles () and Galit Alter ()
Additional contact information
Yannic C. Bartsch: Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard
Stephanie Fischinger: Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard
Sameed M. Siddiqui: Computational and Systems Biology Program, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Zhilin Chen: Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard
Jingyou Yu: Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard
Makda Gebre: Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard
Caroline Atyeo: Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard
Matthew J. Gorman: Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard
Alex Lee Zhu: Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard
Jaewon Kang: Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard
John S. Burke: Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard
Matthew Slein: Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard
Matthew J. Gluck: Space Exploration Technologies Corp
Samuel Beger: Space Exploration Technologies Corp
Yiyuan Hu: Space Exploration Technologies Corp
Justin Rhee: Space Exploration Technologies Corp
Eric Petersen: Space Exploration Technologies Corp
Benjamin Mormann: Space Exploration Technologies Corp
Michael de St Aubin: Harvard Humanitarian Initiative
Mohammad A. Hasdianda: Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Guruprasad Jambaulikar: Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Edward W. Boyer: Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Pardis C. Sabeti: Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard
Dan H. Barouch: Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard
Boris D. Julg: Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard
Elon R. Musk: Space Exploration Technologies Corp
Anil S. Menon: Space Exploration Technologies Corp
Douglas A. Lauffenburger: Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Eric J. Nilles: Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Galit Alter: Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard

Nature Communications, 2021, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Abstract Antibodies serve as biomarkers of infection, but if sustained can confer long-term immunity. Yet, for most clinically approved vaccines, binding antibody titers only serve as a surrogate of protection. Instead, the ability of vaccine induced antibodies to neutralize or mediate Fc-effector functions is mechanistically linked to protection. While evidence has begun to point to persisting antibody responses among SARS-CoV-2 infected individuals, cases of re-infection have begun to emerge, calling the protective nature of humoral immunity against this highly infectious pathogen into question. Using a community-based surveillance study, we aimed to define the relationship between titers and functional antibody activity to SARS-CoV-2 over time. Here we report significant heterogeneity, but limited decay, across antibody titers amongst 120 identified seroconverters, most of whom had asymptomatic infection. Notably, neutralization, Fc-function, and SARS-CoV-2 specific T cell responses were only observed in subjects that elicited RBD-specific antibody titers above a threshold. The findings point to a switch-like relationship between observed antibody titer and function, where a distinct threshold of activity—defined by the level of antibodies—is required to elicit vigorous humoral and cellular response. This response activity level may be essential for durable protection, potentially explaining why re-infections occur with SARS-CoV-2 and other common coronaviruses.

Date: 2021
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-21336-8 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:12:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-021-21336-8

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-21336-8

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().