Characterisation of the Antibody Response in Sinopharm (BBIBP-CorV) Recipients and COVID-19 Convalescent Sera from the Republic of Moldova
Mariana Ulinici,
Alen Suljič,
Monica Poggianella,
Rafaela Milan Bonotto,
Katarina Resman Rus,
Angela Paraschiv,
Amedeo Marco Bonetti,
Mihail Todiras,
Alexandru Corlateanu,
Stanislav Groppa,
Emil Ceban,
Miroslav Petrovec,
Alessandro Marcello
Affiliations
Mariana Ulinici
National Institute for Health and Medical Research, Faculty of Medicine, Nicolae Testemitanu State University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 2004 Chisinau, Moldova
Alen Suljič
Institute of Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ljubljana, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
Monica Poggianella
Laboratory of Molecular Virology, International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), 34149 Trieste, Italy
Rafaela Milan Bonotto
Laboratory of Molecular Virology, International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), 34149 Trieste, Italy
Katarina Resman Rus
Institute of Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ljubljana, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
Angela Paraschiv
National Institute for Health and Medical Research, Faculty of Medicine, Nicolae Testemitanu State University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 2004 Chisinau, Moldova
Amedeo Marco Bonetti
Laboratory of Molecular Virology, International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), 34149 Trieste, Italy
Mihail Todiras
National Institute for Health and Medical Research, Faculty of Medicine, Nicolae Testemitanu State University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 2004 Chisinau, Moldova
Alexandru Corlateanu
National Institute for Health and Medical Research, Faculty of Medicine, Nicolae Testemitanu State University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 2004 Chisinau, Moldova
Stanislav Groppa
National Institute for Health and Medical Research, Faculty of Medicine, Nicolae Testemitanu State University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 2004 Chisinau, Moldova
Emil Ceban
National Institute for Health and Medical Research, Faculty of Medicine, Nicolae Testemitanu State University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 2004 Chisinau, Moldova
Miroslav Petrovec
Institute of Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ljubljana, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
Alessandro Marcello
Laboratory of Molecular Virology, International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), 34149 Trieste, Italy
The early availability of effective vaccines against SARS-CoV-2, the aetiologic cause of COVID-19, has been at the cornerstone of the global recovery from the pandemic. This study aimed to assess the antispike RBD IgG antibody titres and neutralisation potential of COVID-19 convalescent plasma and the sera of Moldovan adults vaccinated with the Sinopharm BBIBP-CorV vaccine. An IgG ELISA with recombinant SARS-CoV-2 spike RBD and two pseudovirus-based neutralisation assays have been developed to evaluate neutralising antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 in biosafety level 2 containment facilities. A significant moderate correlation was observed between IgG titres and the overall neutralising levels for each neutralisation assay (ρ = 0.64, p p p p p p < 0.001). It can be concluded that individuals who recovered from infection developed higher levels of antispike RBD IgG antibodies. In comparison, the Sinopharm-vaccinated individuals produced higher levels of neutralising antibodies than convalescent plasma.
