Tear antibodies to SARS-CoV-2: implications for transmission
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Abstract
Objectives
SARS-CoV-2 can be transmitted by aerosols and the ocular surface may be an important route of transmission. Little is known about protective antibody responses to SARS-CoV-2 in tears after infection or vaccination. We analysed SARS-CoV-2 specific IgG and IgA responses in human tears after either COVID-19 infection or vaccination.
Methods
We recruited 16 subjects with COVID-19 infection an average of 7 months previously and 15 subjects before and 2 weeks after Comirnaty (Pfizer-BioNtech) vaccination. Plasma, saliva and basal tears were collected. Pre-pandemic plasma, saliva and basal tears from 11 individuals were included as healthy controls. Antibody responses to 5 SARS-CoV-2 antigens were measured via multiplex.
Results
IgG antibodies to Spike and Nucleoprotein were detected in tears, saliva and plasma from subjects with prior SARS-CoV-2 infection in comparison to uninfected controls. While RBD-specific antibodies were detected in plasma, minimal RBD-specific antibodies were detected in tears and saliva. In contrast, high levels of IgG antibodies to Spike and RBD, but not Nucleoprotein, were induced in tears, saliva and plasma of subjects receiving 2 doses of the Comirnaty vaccine. Increased levels of IgA1 and IgA2 antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 antigens were detected in plasma following infection or vaccination, but were unchanged in tears and saliva.
Conclusion
Both infection and vaccination induce SARS-CoV-2-specific IgG antibodies in tears. RBD-specific IgG antibodies in tears were induced by vaccination but were not present 7 months post-infection. This suggests neutralising antibodies may be low in the tears late following infection.
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SciScore for 10.1101/2021.08.02.21261479: (What is this?)
Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.
Table 1: Rigor
Ethics Consent: All participants provided written informed consent; the study was approved by the University of Melbourne human research and ethics committee (2056689 and 21198153983).
IRB: All participants provided written informed consent; the study was approved by the University of Melbourne human research and ethics committee (2056689 and 21198153983).Sex as a biological variable not detected. Randomization not detected. Blinding not detected. Power Analysis not detected. Table 2: Resources
Antibodies Sentences Resources SARS-CoV-2 specific IgG, IgA1 and IgA2 antibodies in plasma (1:200), saliva (1:5 and 1:50) and tears (1:5 and 1:50) from the respective cohorts (i and ii) were assessed by a customized … SciScore for 10.1101/2021.08.02.21261479: (What is this?)
Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.
Table 1: Rigor
Ethics Consent: All participants provided written informed consent; the study was approved by the University of Melbourne human research and ethics committee (2056689 and 21198153983).
IRB: All participants provided written informed consent; the study was approved by the University of Melbourne human research and ethics committee (2056689 and 21198153983).Sex as a biological variable not detected. Randomization not detected. Blinding not detected. Power Analysis not detected. Table 2: Resources
Antibodies Sentences Resources SARS-CoV-2 specific IgG, IgA1 and IgA2 antibodies in plasma (1:200), saliva (1:5 and 1:50) and tears (1:5 and 1:50) from the respective cohorts (i and ii) were assessed by a customized multiplex bead array consisting of 5 SARS-CoV-2 proteins, including a whole Spike trimer (ST), the Spike 1 (S1), Spike 2 (S2), Receptor Binding Domain (RBD) of Spike and NP (Nucleoprotein) as previously described [11]. SARS-CoV-2 specific IgG, IgA1suggested: NoneIgA2suggested: (LSBio (LifeSpan Cat# LS-C141769-200, RRID:AB_10946697)S2), Receptor Binding Domain (RBDsuggested: NoneNPsuggested: NoneSoftware and Algorithms Sentences Resources Statistical analysis was performed with GraphPad Prism 9 (GraphPad Software). GraphPadsuggested: (GraphPad Prism, RRID:SCR_002798)Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).
Results from LimitationRecognizer: An explicit section about the limitations of the techniques employed in this study was not found. We encourage authors to address study limitations.Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.
Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.
Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.
Results from rtransparent:- Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
- Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
- No protocol registration statement was detected.
Results from scite Reference Check: We found no unreliable references.
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