Longitudinal monitoring of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein-specific antibody responses in Lower Austria
This article has been Reviewed by the following groups
Listed in
- Evaluated articles (ScreenIT)
Abstract
The Lower Austrian Wachau region was an early COVID-19 hotspot of infection. As previously reported, in June 2020, after the first peak of infections, we determined that 8.5% and 9.0% of the participants in Weißenkirchen and surrounding communities in the Wachau region were positive for immunoglobulin G (IgG) and immunoglobulin A (IgA) antibodies against the receptor-binding domain of the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2, respectively. Here, we present novel data obtained eight months later (February 2021) from Weißenkirchen, after the second peak of infection, with 25.0% (138/552) and 23.6% (130/552) of participants that are positive for IgG and IgA, respectively. In participants with previous IgG/IgA positivity (June 2020), we observed a 24% reduction in IgG levels, whereas the IgA levels remained stable in February 2021. This subgroup was further analyzed for SARS-CoV-2 induced T cell activities. Although 76% (34/45) and 76% (34/45) of IgG positive and IgA positive participants, respectively, showed specific T cell activities (upon exposure to SARS-CoV-2 spike protein-derived peptides), those were not significantly correlated with the levels of IgG or IgA. Thus, the analyses of antibodies cannot surrogate the measurement of T cell activities. For a comprehensive view on SARS-CoV-2-triggered immune responses, the measurement of different classes of antibodies should be complemented with the determination of T cell activities.
Article activity feed
-
-
SciScore for 10.1101/2021.08.14.21262042: (What is this?)
Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.
Table 1: Rigor
Ethics IRB: The study was approved by ethics committee of the Danube Private University, in accordance with local and national guidelines. Sex as a biological variable not detected. Randomization not detected. Blinding not detected. Power Analysis not detected. Table 2: Resources
Antibodies Sentences Resources Serum samples were analyzed by a certified diagnostic laboratory (Bioscientia, Ingelheim, Germany) with an EC-certified semiquantitative enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (Euroimmun AG, Lübeck, Germany), for the determination of serum levels of IgG and IgA antibodies, specific for the receptor binding domain of the SARS-CoV-2 (S) spike protein (26). IgAsuggested: NoneSoftware and Algorithms Sentences Resour… SciScore for 10.1101/2021.08.14.21262042: (What is this?)
Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.
Table 1: Rigor
Ethics IRB: The study was approved by ethics committee of the Danube Private University, in accordance with local and national guidelines. Sex as a biological variable not detected. Randomization not detected. Blinding not detected. Power Analysis not detected. Table 2: Resources
Antibodies Sentences Resources Serum samples were analyzed by a certified diagnostic laboratory (Bioscientia, Ingelheim, Germany) with an EC-certified semiquantitative enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (Euroimmun AG, Lübeck, Germany), for the determination of serum levels of IgG and IgA antibodies, specific for the receptor binding domain of the SARS-CoV-2 (S) spike protein (26). IgAsuggested: NoneSoftware and Algorithms Sentences Resources Participants were questioned about medical preconditions, previous disease symptoms, including SARS-CoV-2 specific symptoms (e.g., fever, cough and respiratory problems, cold, olfactory dysfunction). SARS-CoV-2suggested: (BioLegend Cat# 946101, RRID:AB_2892515)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: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:The major limitation of our study is the fact that we do not have reliable PCR test results for participants. Since this was a study with no recruitment restriction, participants self-reported previous SARS-CoV-2 infections or COVID-19 symptoms, but no PCR test was performed within our study. The percentage of patients with a known infection who do not become seropositive is low (36). As we restricted T cell analyses to a seropositive subgroup, however, we may have overseen a certain number of patients which could have shown a positive IGRA response. Furthermore, since we did not perform PCR tests, it is difficult to clearly determine the maximal period of Ig persistence in our cohort. If patients were seropositive in June, we can deduce antibody persistence of at least eight months (time between June 2020 and February 2021). Especially for patients who were infected during the first wave described in Lower Austria in February 2020, antibody persistence possibly may be extended to twelve months. Indeed, there may be a recruitment bias since people with known or suspected prior infection or prior contact with infected people, may have preferably enrolled in our study.
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.
-
