Dynamic anti-spike protein antibody profiles in COVID-19 patients

Bao, Yujie; Ling, Yun; Chen, Ying-ying; Tian, Di; Zhao, Guo-ping; Zhang, Xiang-hui; Hang, Hong; Li, Yu; Su, Bing; Lu, Hong-zhou; Xu, Jie; Wang, Ying

OBJECTIVES: This study intended to investigate the dynamics of anti-spike (S) IgG and IgM antibodies in COVID-19 patients. METHODS: Anti-S IgG/IgM was determined by a semi-quantitative fluorescence immunoassay in the plasma of COVID-19 patients at the manifestation and rehabilitation stages. The immunoreactivity to full-length S proteins, C-terminal domain (CTD), and N-terminal domain (NTD) of S1 fragments were determined by an ELISA assay. Clinical properties at admission and discharge were collected simultaneously. RESULTS: The positive rates of anti-S IgG/IgM in COVID-19 patients were elevated after rehabilitation compared to the in-patients. Anti-S IgG and IgM were not apparent until day 14 and day ten, respectively, according to Simple Moving Average analysis with five days’ slide window deduction. More than 90% of the rehabilitation patients exhibited IgG and IgM responses targeting CTD-S1 fragments. Decreased total peripheral lymphocytes, CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cell counts were seen in COVID-19 patients at admission and recovered after the rehabilitation. CONCLUSIONS: Anti-S IgG and IgM do not appear at the onset with the decrease in T cells, making early serological screening less significant. However, the presence of high IgG and IgM to S1-CTD in the recovered patients highlights humoral responses after SARS-CoV-2 infection, which might be associated with efficient immune protection in COVID-19 patients.