Abstract
Background: Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the virus responsible for the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The emergence of variants of concern (VOCs) has become one of the most pressing issues in public health. To control VOCs, it is important to know which COVID-19 convalescent sera have cross-neutralizing activity against VOCs and how long the sera maintain this protective activity.
Methods: Sera of patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 from March 2020 to January 2021 and admitted to Hyogo Prefectural Kakogawa Medical Center were selected. Blood was drawn from patients at 1-3, 3-6, and 6-8 months post onset. Then, a virus neutralization assay against SARS-CoV-2 variants (D614G mutation as conventional strain; B.1.1.7, P.1, and B.1.351 as VOCs) was performed using authentic viruses.
Results: We assessed 97 sera from 42 patients. Sera from 28 patients showed neutralizing activity that was sustained for 3-8 months post onset. The neutralizing antibody titer against D614G significantly decreased in sera of 6-8 months post onset compared to those of 1-3 months post onset. However, the neutralizing antibody titers against the three VOCs were not significantly different among 1-3, 3-6, and 6-8 months post onset.
Discussion: Our results indicate that neutralizing antibodies that recognize the common epitope for several variants may be maintained for a long time, while neutralizing antibodies having specific epitopes for a variant, produced in large quantities immediately after infection, may decrease quite rapidly.
Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; breadth; neutralization; variants.
【저자키워드】 COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, neutralization, variants., breadth, 【초록키워드】 coronavirus disease, viruses, neutralizing antibody, public health, Coronavirus disease 2019, coronavirus, pandemic, Neutralizing antibodies, VoC, B.1.351, neutralization, variant, SARS-CoV-2 variant, Infection, variants of concern, severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus, virus, coronavirus 2, variants, Severe acute respiratory syndrome, Epitopes, Neutralizing activity, D614G mutation, SARS-CoV-2 variants, B.1.1.7, P.1, sera, VOCs, Patient, Antibody titer, Virus neutralization, D614G, respiratory, epitope, patients, convalescent sera, Antibody titers, Neutralizing antibody titer, Protective, breadth, acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus, acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, neutralizing antibody titers, center, several variants, decrease, selected, produced, responsible, significantly, was performed, recognize, maintain, sustained, cross-neutralizing, infected with SARS-CoV-2, not significantly different, several variant, 【제목키워드】 Longevity, Against,