Stable neutralizing antibody levels six months after mild and severe COVID-19 episode

Pradenas, Edwards; Trinité, Benjamin; Urrea, Víctor; Marfil, Silvia; Ávila-Nieto, Carlos; Rodríguez de la Concepción, María Luisa; Tarrés-Freixas, Ferran; Pérez-Yanes, Silvia; Rovirosa, Carla; Ainsua-Enrich, Erola; Rodon, Jordi; Vergara-Alert, Júlia; Segalés, Joaquim; Guallar, Victor; Valencia, Alfonso; Izquierdo-Useros, Nuria; Paredes, Roger; Mateu, Lourdes; Chamorro, Anna; Massanella, Marta; Carrillo, Jorge; Clotet, Bonaventura; Blanco, JuliÃ

Background Understanding mid-term kinetics of immunity to SARS-CoV-2 is the cornerstone for public health control of the pandemic and vaccine development. However, current evidence is rather based on limited measurements, losing sight of the temporal pattern of these changes. Methods We conducted a longitudinal analysis on a prospective cohort of COVID-19 patients followed up for more than 6 months. Neutralizing activity was evaluated using HIV reporter pseudoviruses expressing SARS-CoV-2 S protein. IgG antibody titer was evaluated by ELISA against the S2 subunit, the receptor binding domain (RBD) and the nucleoprotein (NP). Statistical analyses were carried out using mixed-effects models. Findings We found that individuals with mild or asymptomatic infection experienced an insignificant decay in neutralizing activity, which persisted six months after symptom onset or diagnosis. Hospitalized individuals showed higher neutralizing titers, which decreased following a two-phase pattern, with an initial rapid decline that significantly slowed after day 80. Despite this initial decay, neutralizing activity at six months remained higher among hospitalized individuals compared to mild symptomatic. The slow decline in neutralizing activity at mid-term contrasted with the steep slope of anti-RBD, S2 or NP antibody titers, all of them showing a constant decline over the follow-up period. Conclusions Our results reinforce the hypothesis that the quality of the neutralizing immune response against SARS-CoV-2 evolves over the post-convalescent stage. Funding This study was funded by Grifols, CERCA Programme and Departament de Salut (Generalitat de Catalunya), Spanish Health Institute Carlos III, and the crowdfunding initiatives #joemcorono, BonPreu/Esclat and Correos.