Protective characteristics of COVID-19 convalescent and post-vaccination IgG antibodies

  1. Melvin E. Klegerman
  2. Tao Peng
  3. Ira Seferovich
  4. Mohammad H. Rahbar
  5. Manouchehr Hessabi
  6. Amirali Tahanan
  7. Audrey Wanger
  8. Carolyn Z. Grimes
  9. Luis Z. Ostrosky-Zeichner
  10. Kent Koster
  11. Jeffrey D. Cirillo
  12. Dinuka Abeydeera
  13. Steve De Lira
  14. David D. McPherson

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Abstract

Soon after commencement of the SARS-CoV-2 disease outbreak of 2019 (COVID-19), it became evident that the receptor-binding domain of the viral spike protein is the target of neutralizing antibodies that comprise a critical element of protective immunity to the virus. This study addresses the relative lack of information regarding actual antibody concentrations in convalescent plasma samples from COVID-19 patients and extends these analyses to post-vaccination samples to estimate protective IgG antibody (Ab) levels. Both sample populations were similar and a protective Ab level of 7.5 µg/ml was determined, based on 95% of the normal distribution of the post-vaccination population. The results of this study have implications for future vaccine development, projection of protective efficacy duration, and understanding of the immune response to SARS-CoV-2 infection.

One-Sentence Summary

Using two quantitative immunoassays, we have found similar IgG antibody responses to the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein in populations of COVID-19 survivors and vaccine recipients that indicate a protective antibody concentration.

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  1. ScreenIT

    SciScore for 10.1101/2021.11.19.21266547: (What is this?)

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

    Table 1: Rigor

    Ethicsnot detected.
    Sex as a biological variablenot detected.
    Randomizationnot detected.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.

    Table 2: Resources

    Antibodies
    SentencesResources
    ELISA for Human IgG Antibodies Specific for the SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein Receptor-Binding Domain (RBD): This is a sandwich ELISA in which a capture antibody, rabbit anti-mouse IgG, is adsorbed onto microtititer wells, followed by antigen capture.
    Human IgG
    suggested: None
    anti-mouse IgG
    suggested: None
    We used the Generalized Linear Model (GLM) for assessing potential confounding factors or interactions between the study groups and each of the factors associated with IgG antibody concentrations.
    IgG
    suggested: None

    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.
    • Thank you for including a protocol registration statement.

    Results from scite Reference Check: We found no unreliable references.

    About SciScore

    SciScore is an automated tool that is designed to assist expert reviewers by finding and presenting formulaic information scattered throughout a paper in a standard, easy to digest format. SciScore checks for the presence and correctness of RRIDs (research resource identifiers), and for rigor criteria such as sex and investigator blinding. For details on the theoretical underpinning of rigor criteria and the tools shown here, including references cited, please follow this link.

  2. Version published to 10.1101/2021.11.19.21266547v1 on medRxiv