Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)–Specific Memory B Cells From Individuals With Diverse Disease Severities Recognize SARS-CoV-2 Variants of Concern

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Abstract

The unprecedented severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic has called for substantial investigations into the capacity of the human immune system to protect against reinfection and keep pace with the evolution of SARS-CoV-2. We evaluated the magnitude and durability of the SARS-CoV-2–specific antibody responses against parental WA-1 SARS-CoV-2 receptor-binding domain (RBD) and a representative variant of concern (VoC) RBD using antibodies from 2 antibody compartments: long-lived plasma cell–derived plasma antibodies and antibodies encoded by SARS-CoV-2–specific memory B cells (MBCs). Thirty-five participants naturally infected with SARS-CoV-2 were evaluated; although only 25 of 35 participants had VoC RBD–reactive plasma antibodies, 34 of 35 (97%) participants had VoC RBD–reactive MBC-derived antibodies. Our finding that 97% of previously infected individuals have MBCs specific for variant RBDs provides reason for optimism regarding the capacity of vaccination, prior infection, and/or both, to elicit immunity with the capacity to limit disease severity and transmission of VoCs as they arise and circulate.

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  1. SciScore for 10.1101/2021.05.28.21258025: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    EthicsIRB: Human Research Ethics: The study was reviewed and approved by the Oregon Health & Science University Institutional Review Board (IRB# 21230).
    Consent: Informed consent was obtained from subjects on initiation of their participation in the study.
    Sex as a biological variablenot detected.
    Randomizationnot detected.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.
    Cell Line Authenticationnot detected.

    Table 2: Resources

    Antibodies
    SentencesResources
    Plates were washed 4 times with wash buffer, and 100µL (plasma) or 50 μL (LDA) of 1:3000 dilution of anti-human IgG-HRP (BD Pharmingen, 555788) detection antibody was added and incubated at RT for 1 hour.
    anti-human IgG-HRP
    suggested: None
    For subjects …