Limited window for donation of convalescent plasma with high live-virus neutralizing antibody titers for COVID-19 immunotherapy

Gontu, Abhinay; Srinivasan, Sreenidhi; Salazar, Eric; Nair, Meera Surendran; Nissly, Ruth H.; Greenawalt, Denver; Bird, Ian M.; Herzog, Catherine M.; Ferrari, Matthew J.; Poojary, Indira; Katani, Robab; Lindner, Scott E.; Minns, Allen M.; Rossi, Randall; Christensen, Paul A.; Castillo, Brian; Chen, Jian; Eagar, Todd N.; Yi, Xin; Zhao, Picheng; Leveque, Christopher; Olsen, Randall J.; Bernard, David W.; Gollihar, Jimmy; Kuchipudi, Suresh V.; Musser, James M.; Kapur, Vivek

Millions of individuals who have recovered from SARS-CoV-2 infection may be eligible to participate in convalescent plasma donor programs, yet the optimal window for donating high neutralizing titer convalescent plasma for COVID-19 immunotherapy remains unknown. Here we studied the response trajectories of antibodies directed to the SARS-CoV-2 surface spike glycoprotein and in vitro SARS-CoV-2 live virus neutralizing titers (VN) in 175 convalescent donors longitudinally sampled for up to 142 days post onset of symptoms (DPO). We observed robust IgM, IgG, and viral neutralization responses to SARS-CoV-2 that persist, in the aggregate, for at least 100 DPO. However, there is a notable decline in VN titers ≥160 for convalescent plasma therapy, starting 60 DPO. The results also show that individuals 30 years of age or younger have significantly lower VN, IgG and IgM antibody titers than those in the older age groups; and individuals with greater disease severity also have significantly higher IgM and IgG antibody titers. Taken together, these findings define the optimal window for donating convalescent plasma useful for immunotherapy of COVID-19 patients and reveal important predictors of an ideal plasma donor.