S Protein-Reactive IgG and Memory B Cell Production after Human SARS-CoV-2 Infection Includes Broad Reactivity to the S2 Subunit

  1. Phuong Nguyen-Contant
  2. A. Karim Embong
  3. Preshetha Kanagaiah
  4. Francisco A. Chaves
  5. Hongmei Yang
  6. Angela R. Branche
  7. David J. Topham
  8. Mark Y. Sangster

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Abstract

The recent rapid worldwide spread of SARS-CoV-2 has established a pandemic of potentially serious disease in the highly susceptible human population. Key issues are whether humans have preexisting immune memory that provides some protection against SARS-CoV-2 and whether SARS-CoV-2 infection generates lasting immune protection against reinfection. Our analysis focused on pre- and postinfection IgG and IgG memory B cells (MBCs) reactive to SARS-CoV-2 proteins. Most importantly, we demonstrate that infection generates both IgG and IgG MBCs against the novel receptor binding domain and the conserved S2 subunit of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. Thus, even if antibody levels wane, long-lived MBCs remain to mediate rapid antibody production. Our study results also suggest that SARS-CoV-2 infection strengthens preexisting broad coronavirus protection through S2-reactive antibody and MBC formation.

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  1. Version published to 10.1128/mbio.01991-20
  2. ScreenIT

    SciScore for 10.1101/2020.07.20.213298: (What is this?)

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

    Table 1: Rigor

    Institutional Review Board StatementConsent: Study participants and clinical samples: All study participants were recruited at the University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY and provided written informed consent prior to inclusion in the studies.
    IRB: The studies were approved by the University of Rochester Human Research Subjects Review Board (protocols 16-0064, 07-0090, and 07-0046) and conducted in accordance with the principles of Good Clinical Practice.
    Randomizationnot detected.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.
    Sex as a biological variableA cohort of 26 non-hospitalized COVID-19 convalescent subjects (9 males and 17 females; median age 49 years, IQR 36-63) was enrolled in May, 2020 and consisted of 22 PCR-confirmed patients and 5 non-PCR-confirmed subjects who were contacts of confirmed cases or displayed COVID-19-like symptoms.
    Cell Line Authenticationnot detected.

    Table 2: Resources

    Experimental Models: Cell Lines
    SentencesResources
    Baculovirus-expressed S2 subdomain and HEK293 cell-expressed N protein were obtained from Sino Biological (Chesterbrook, PA) and RayBiotech (Peachtree Corners, GA), respectively
    HEK293
    suggested: CLS Cat# 300192/p777_HEK293, RRID:CVCL_0045)
    Software and Algorithms
    SentencesResources
    Statistical analyses were performed using Software SAS 9.4 (SAS Institute Inc, Cary, NC).
    SAS Institute
    suggested: (Statistical Analysis System, RRID:SCR_008567)

    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.

    About SciScore

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  3. Version published to 10.1101/2020.07.20.213298v1 on bioRxiv