Vaccination of COVID ‐19 convalescent plasma donors increases binding and neutralizing antibodies against SARS‐CoV ‐2 variants

  1. Clara Di Germanio
  2. Graham Simmons
  3. Chloe Thorbrogger
  4. Rachel Martinelli
  5. Mars Stone
  6. Thomas Gniadek
  7. Michael P. Busch

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Abstract

Background

COVID‐19 convalescent plasma (CCP) was widely used as passive immunotherapy during the first waves of SARS‐CoV‐2 infection in the US. However, based on observational studies and randomized controlled trials, the beneficial effects of CCP were limited, and its use was virtually discontinued early in 2021, in concurrence with increased vaccination rates and availability of monoclonal antibody (mAb) therapeutics. Yet, as new variants of the SARS‐CoV‐2 spread, interest in CCP derived from vaccine‐boosted CCP donors is resurging. The effect of vaccination of previously infected CCP donors on antibodies against rapidly spreading variants is still under investigation.

Study design/methods

In this study, paired‐samples from 11 CCP donors collected before and after vaccination was tested to measure binding antibody levels and neutralization activity against the ancestral Wuhan‐Hu‐1 and SARS‐CoV‐2 variants (Wuhan‐Hu‐1 with D614G, alpha, beta, gamma, delta, epsilon) on the Ortho Vitros Spike Total Ig and IgG assays, the MSD V‐PLEX SARS‐CoV‐2 arrays for IgG binding and ACE2 inhibition, and variant‐specific Spike Reporter Viral Particle Neutralization (RVPN) assays.

Results/findings

Binding and neutralizing antibodies were significantly boosted by vaccination, with several logs higher neutralization for all the variants tested post‐vaccination compared to the pre‐vaccination samples, with no difference found among the individual variants.

Discussion

Vaccination of previously infected individuals boosts antibodies including neutralizing activity against all SARS‐CoV‐2 variants.

Article activity feed

  1. Version published to 10.1111/trf.16823
  2. ScreenIT

    SciScore for 10.1101/2021.10.28.21265622: (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.
    Cell Line Authenticationnot detected.

    Table 2: Resources

    Antibodies
    SentencesResources
    Antibody characterization: Samples were tested at Vitalant Research Institute (VRI; San Francisco, CA) to measure the levels of total Ig and IgG antibodies against the S1 domain of the SARS-CoV-2 spike antigen, in vitro binding and ACE2 inhibition against S1, N and RBD, and neutralization titers.
    S1
    suggested: None
    Experimental Models: Cell Lines
    SentencesResources
    Briefly, renilla luciferase RVPs bearing Spike from the ancestral strain Wuhan-Hu-1, B.1.1.7, B.1.351, P.1, B.1.1.7+E484K, B.1.617.2, and B.1.427 were first titrated on 293T/ACE2/TMPRSS2 cells.
    293T/ACE2/TMPRSS2
    suggested: None
    Experimental Models: Organisms/Strains
    SentencesResources
    Briefly, renilla luciferase RVPs bearing Spike from the ancestral strain Wuhan-Hu-1, B.1.1.7, B.1.351, P.1, B.1.1.7+E484K, B.1.617.2, and B.1.427 were first titrated on 293T/ACE2/TMPRSS2 cells.
    Wuhan-Hu-1
    suggested: None
    Software and Algorithms
    SentencesResources
    Results were calculated as percent of no serum controls and dose response curves produced in Prism 9 (GraphPad) were generated to calculate 50% neutralization titers (NT50).
    GraphPad
    suggested: (GraphPad Prism, RRID:SCR_002798)
    All tests were performed on GraphPad Prism 9.0.0.
    GraphPad Prism
    suggested: (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.

    About SciScore

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  3. Version published to 10.1101/2021.10.28.21265622v1 on medRxiv