SARS-CoV-2 neutralization and serology testing of COVID-19 convalescent plasma from donors with non-severe disease

Gniadek, Thomas J.; Thiede, Joshua M.; Matchett, William E.; Gress, Abigail R.; Pape, Kathryn A.; Jenkins, Marc K.; Menachery, Vineet D.; Langlois, Ryan A.; Bold, Tyler D.

We determined the antigen binding activity of convalescent plasma units from 47 individuals with a history of non-severe COVID-19 using three clinical diagnostic serology assays (Beckman, DiaSorin, and Roche) with different SARS-CoV-2 targets. We compared these results with functional neutralization activity using a fluorescent reporter strain of SARS-CoV-2 in a microwell assay. This revealed positive correlations of varying strength (Spearman r = 0.37-0.52) between binding and neutralization. Donors age 48-75 had the highest neutralization activity. Units in the highest tertile of binding activity for each assay were enriched (75-82%) for those with the highest levels of neutralization.