Antibody Response to SARS-CoV-2 among COVID-19 Confirmed Cases and Correlates with Neutralizing Assay in a Subgroup of Patients in Delhi National Capital Region, India

  1. Puneet Misra
  2. Shashi Kant
  3. Randeep Guleria
  4. Sanjay K. Rai
  5. Abhishek Jaiswal
  6. Suprakash Mandal
  7. Guruprasad R. Medigeshi
  8. Mohammad Ahmad
  9. Anisur Rahman
  10. Meenu Sangral
  11. Kapil Yadav
  12. Mohan Bairwa
  13. Partha Haldar
  14. Parveen Kumar

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Abstract

Background: The plaque reduction neutralization test (PRNT) is the gold standard to detect the neutralizing capacity of serum antibodies. Neutralizing antibodies confer protection against further infection. The present study measured the antibody level against SARS-CoV-2 among laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases and evaluated whether the presence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies indicates virus neutralizing capacity. Methods: One hundred COVID-19 confirmed cases were recruited. Their sociodemographic details and history of COVID-19 vaccination, contact with positive COVID-19 cases, and symptoms were ascertained using a self-developed semi-structured interview schedule. Serum samples of the participants were collected within three months from the date of the positive report of COVID-19. The presence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies (IgA, IgG and IgM antibodies), receptor binding domain antibodies (anti-RBD), and neutralizing antibodies were measured. Findings: Almost all the participants had anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies (IgA, IgG and IgM) (99%) and anti-RBD IgG antibodies (97%). However, only 69% had neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2. Anti-RBD antibody levels were significantly higher among participants having neutralizing antibodies compared with those who did not. Interpretation: The present study highlights that the presence of antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, or the presence of anti-RBD antibodies does not necessarily imply the presence of neutralizing antibodies.

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  1. Version published to 10.3390/vaccines10081312
  2. ScreenIT

    SciScore for 10.1101/2022.05.17.22275193: (What is this?)

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

    Table 1: Rigor

    EthicsConsent: Participants who refused to give written informed consent, or had contraindication for veni-puncture, were excluded from the study.
    IRB: Ethics: Ethical permission was taken from the institute ethics committee of All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi. (Ref.
    Sex as a biological variablenot detected.
    Randomizationnot detected.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.
    Cell Line Authenticationnot detected.

    Table 2: Resources

    Antibodies
    SentencesResources
    Detection of SARS-CoV-2-specific IgG antibodies was performed using an ELISA-based test (WANTAI) as per the specified optical density (OD) cut-off value.
    SARS-CoV-2-specific IgG
    suggested: None
    Anti-Receptor binding domain (RBD) antibody (IgG) was measured using quantitative RBD ELISA.
    Anti-Receptor binding domain (RBD
    suggested: None
    The test reported the Anti-RBD IgG antibodies in ELU/ml.
    Anti-RBD IgG
    suggested: None
    After incubation, anti-RBD antibodies were captured by immobilized RBD protein while the unbound components were washed away.
    anti-RBD
    suggested: None
    WANTAI SARS-CoV-2 Antibody ELISA: It was an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for the qualitative detection of total antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 virus in human serum or plasma specimens (anti-SARS-CoV2 IgA, IgG and IgM antibodies).
    anti-SARS-CoV2 IgA, IgG
    suggested: None
    IgM
    suggested: None
    In wells containing the antigen-antibody-antigen (HRP) “sandwich” immune-complex, the colorless Chromogens are hydrolyzed by the bound HRP conjugate to a blue-colored product.
    antigen-antibody-antigen (HRP
    suggested: None
    Wells containing specimens negative for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies remained colorless.
    SARS-CoV-2
    suggested: None
    Experimental Models: Cell Lines
    SentencesResources
    Plaque Reduction Neutralization Test (PRNT): PRNT for SARS-CoV-2 on Vero E6 cells was done to measure the neutralizing antibodies (SOP No.: THSTI/BL/TEC/039 Version: 1.0).
    Vero E6
    suggested: RRID:CVCL_XD71)

    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:
    Limitations: Symptoms and history of contact were self-reported hence making it vulnerable to recall error.

    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

    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.

  3. Version published to 10.1101/2022.05.17.22275193v1 on medRxiv