iScience (Feb 2022)
Immunity to SARS-CoV-2 up to 15 months after infection
- Harold Marcotte,
- Antonio Piralla,
- Fanglei Zuo,
- Likun Du,
- Irene Cassaniti,
- Hui Wan,
- Makiko Kumagai-Braesh,
- Juni Andréll,
- Elena Percivalle,
- Josè Camilla Sammartino,
- Yating Wang,
- Stelios Vlachiotis,
- Janine Attevall,
- Federica Bergami,
- Alessandro Ferrari,
- Marta Colaneri,
- Marco Vecchia,
- Margherita Sambo,
- Valentina Zuccaro,
- Erika Asperges,
- Raffaele Bruno,
- Tiberio Oggionni,
- Federica Meloni,
- Hassan Abolhassani,
- Federico Bertoglio,
- Maren Schubert,
- Luigi Calzolai,
- Luca Varani,
- Michael Hust,
- Yintong Xue,
- Lennart Hammarström,
- Fausto Baldanti,
- Qiang Pan-Hammarström
Affiliations
- Harold Marcotte
- Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, Karolinska Institutet, Huddinge, Sweden; Corresponding author
- Antonio Piralla
- Molecular Virology Unit, Microbiology and Virology Department, Fondazione IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo, Pavia, Italy
- Fanglei Zuo
- Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, Karolinska Institutet, Huddinge, Sweden
- Likun Du
- Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, Karolinska Institutet, Huddinge, Sweden
- Irene Cassaniti
- Molecular Virology Unit, Microbiology and Virology Department, Fondazione IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo, Pavia, Italy
- Hui Wan
- Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, Karolinska Institutet, Huddinge, Sweden
- Makiko Kumagai-Braesh
- Division of Transplantation Surgery, CLINTEC, Karolinska Institutet at Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden
- Juni Andréll
- Science for Life Laboratory, Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
- Elena Percivalle
- Molecular Virology Unit, Microbiology and Virology Department, Fondazione IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo, Pavia, Italy
- Josè Camilla Sammartino
- Molecular Virology Unit, Microbiology and Virology Department, Fondazione IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo, Pavia, Italy
- Yating Wang
- Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, Karolinska Institutet, Huddinge, Sweden
- Stelios Vlachiotis
- Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, Karolinska Institutet, Huddinge, Sweden
- Janine Attevall
- Division of Transplantation Surgery, CLINTEC, Karolinska Institutet at Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden
- Federica Bergami
- Molecular Virology Unit, Microbiology and Virology Department, Fondazione IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo, Pavia, Italy
- Alessandro Ferrari
- Molecular Virology Unit, Microbiology and Virology Department, Fondazione IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo, Pavia, Italy
- Marta Colaneri
- Division of Infectious Diseases I, Fondazione IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo, Italy
- Marco Vecchia
- Division of Infectious Diseases I, Fondazione IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo, Italy
- Margherita Sambo
- Division of Infectious Diseases I, Fondazione IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo, Italy
- Valentina Zuccaro
- Division of Infectious Diseases I, Fondazione IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo, Italy
- Erika Asperges
- Division of Infectious Diseases I, Fondazione IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo, Italy
- Raffaele Bruno
- Division of Infectious Diseases I, Fondazione IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo, Italy
- Tiberio Oggionni
- Unit of Respiratory Diseases, Department of Medical Sciences and Infective Diseases, IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo Foundation, Pavia, Italy
- Federica Meloni
- Section of Pneumology, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
- Hassan Abolhassani
- Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, Karolinska Institutet, Huddinge, Sweden
- Federico Bertoglio
- Technische Universität Braunschweig, Institute of Biochemistry, Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Department of Biotechnology, Braunschweig, Germany
- Maren Schubert
- Technische Universität Braunschweig, Institute of Biochemistry, Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Department of Biotechnology, Braunschweig, Germany
- Luigi Calzolai
- European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Ispra, Italy
- Luca Varani
- Institute for Research in Biomedicine, Università della Svizzera Italiana (USI), Bellinzona, Switzerland
- Michael Hust
- Technische Universität Braunschweig, Institute of Biochemistry, Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Department of Biotechnology, Braunschweig, Germany
- Yintong Xue
- Department of Immunology, Peking University Health Science Center, Beijing, China
- Lennart Hammarström
- Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, Karolinska Institutet, Huddinge, Sweden
- Fausto Baldanti
- Molecular Virology Unit, Microbiology and Virology Department, Fondazione IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo, Pavia, Italy; Department of Clinical, Surgical, Diagnostic and Paediatric Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
- Qiang Pan-Hammarström
- Division of Transplantation Surgery, CLINTEC, Karolinska Institutet at Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 25,
no. 2
p. 103743
Abstract
Summary: Information concerning the longevity of immunity to SARS-CoV-2 following natural infection may have considerable implications for durability of immunity induced by vaccines. Here, we monitored the SARS-CoV-2 specific immune response in COVID-19 patients followed up to 15 months after symptoms onset. Following a peak at day 15–28 postinfection, the IgG antibody response and plasma neutralizing titers gradually decreased over time but stabilized after 6 months. Compared to G614, plasma neutralizing titers were more than 8-fold lower against variants Beta, Gamma, and Delta. SARS-CoV-2-specific memory B and T cells persisted in the majority of patients up to 15 months although a significant decrease in specific T cells, but not B cells, was observed between 6 and 15 months. Antiviral specific immunity, especially memory B cells in COVID-19 convalescent patients, is long-lasting, but some variants of concern may at least partially escape the neutralizing activity of plasma antibodies.