Systems serology detects functionally distinct coronavirus antibody features in children and elderly

Kevin J. Selva, Carolien E. van de Sandt, Melissa M. Lemke, Christina Y. Lee, Suzanne K. Shoffner, Brendon Y. Chua, Samantha K. Davis, Thi H. O. Nguyen, Louise C. Rowntree, Luca Hensen, Marios Koutsakos, Chinn Yi Wong, Francesca Mordant, David C. Jackson, Katie L. Flanagan, Jane Crowe, Shidan Tosif, Melanie R. Neeland, Philip Sutton, Paul V. Licciardi, Nigel W. Crawford, Allen C. Cheng, Denise L. Doolan, Fatima Amanat, Florian Krammer, Keith Chappell, Naphak Modhiran, Daniel Watterson, Paul Young, Wen Shi Lee, Bruce D. Wines, P. Mark Hogarth, Robyn Esterbauer, Hannah G. Kelly, Hyon-Xhi Tan, Jennifer A. Juno, Adam K. Wheatley, Stephen J. Kent, Kelly B. Arnold, Katherine Kedzierska () and Amy W. Chung ()
Additional contact information
Kevin J. Selva: University of Melbourne
Carolien E. van de Sandt: University of Melbourne
Melissa M. Lemke: University of Michigan
Christina Y. Lee: University of Michigan
Suzanne K. Shoffner: University of Michigan
Brendon Y. Chua: University of Melbourne
Samantha K. Davis: University of Melbourne
Thi H. O. Nguyen: University of Melbourne
Louise C. Rowntree: University of Melbourne
Luca Hensen: University of Melbourne
Marios Koutsakos: University of Melbourne
Chinn Yi Wong: University of Melbourne
Francesca Mordant: University of Melbourne
David C. Jackson: University of Melbourne
Katie L. Flanagan: Launceston General Hospital
Jane Crowe: Deepdene Surgery
Shidan Tosif: Murdoch Children’s Research Institute
Melanie R. Neeland: Murdoch Children’s Research Institute
Philip Sutton: Murdoch Children’s Research Institute
Paul V. Licciardi: Murdoch Children’s Research Institute
Nigel W. Crawford: Murdoch Children’s Research Institute
Allen C. Cheng: Monash University
Denise L. Doolan: James Cook University
Fatima Amanat: Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Florian Krammer: Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Keith Chappell: University of Queensland
Naphak Modhiran: University of Queensland
Daniel Watterson: University of Queensland
Paul Young: University of Queensland
Wen Shi Lee: University of Melbourne
Bruce D. Wines: Burnet Institute
P. Mark Hogarth: Burnet Institute
Robyn Esterbauer: University of Melbourne
Hannah G. Kelly: University of Melbourne
Hyon-Xhi Tan: University of Melbourne
Jennifer A. Juno: University of Melbourne
Adam K. Wheatley: University of Melbourne
Stephen J. Kent: University of Melbourne
Kelly B. Arnold: University of Michigan
Katherine Kedzierska: University of Melbourne
Amy W. Chung: University of Melbourne

Nature Communications, 2021, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-14

Abstract: Abstract The hallmarks of COVID-19 are higher pathogenicity and mortality in the elderly compared to children. Examining baseline SARS-CoV-2 cross-reactive immunological responses, induced by circulating human coronaviruses (hCoVs), is needed to understand such divergent clinical outcomes. Here we show analysis of coronavirus antibody responses of pre-pandemic healthy children (n = 89), adults (n = 98), elderly (n = 57), and COVID-19 patients (n = 50) by systems serology. Moderate levels of cross-reactive, but non-neutralizing, SARS-CoV-2 antibodies are detected in pre-pandemic healthy individuals. SARS-CoV-2 antigen-specific Fcγ receptor binding accurately distinguishes COVID-19 patients from healthy individuals, suggesting that SARS-CoV-2 infection induces qualitative changes to antibody Fc, enhancing Fcγ receptor engagement. Higher cross-reactive SARS-CoV-2 IgA and IgG are observed in healthy elderly, while healthy children display elevated SARS-CoV-2 IgM, suggesting that children have fewer hCoV exposures, resulting in less-experienced but more polyreactive humoral immunity. Age-dependent analysis of COVID-19 patients, confirms elevated class-switched antibodies in elderly, while children have stronger Fc responses which we demonstrate are functionally different. These insights will inform COVID-19 vaccination strategies, improved serological diagnostics and therapeutics.

Date: 2021
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-22236-7 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_s41467-021-22236-7

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

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-22236-7

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 ().