Emerging Microbes and Infections (Jan 2020)

SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibody responses are more robust in patients with severe disease

  • Pengfei Wang,
  • Lihong Liu,
  • Manoj S. Nair,
  • Michael T. Yin,
  • Yang Luo,
  • Qian Wang,
  • Ting Yuan,
  • Kanako Mori,
  • Axel Guzman Solis,
  • Masahiro Yamashita,
  • Ankur Garg,
  • Lawrence J. Purpura,
  • Justin C. Laracy,
  • Jian Yu,
  • Leemor Joshua-Tor,
  • Joseph Sodroski,
  • Yaoxing Huang,
  • David D. Ho

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1080/22221751.2020.1823890
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 9, no. 1
pp. 2091 – 2093

Abstract

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ABSTRACTWe studied plasma antibody responses of 35 patients about 1 month after SARS-CoV-2 infection. Titers of antibodies binding to the viral nucleocapsid and spike proteins were significantly higher in patients with severe disease. Likewise, mean antibody neutralization titers against SARS-CoV-2 pseudovirus and live virus were higher in the sicker patients, by ∼5-fold and ∼7-fold, respectively. These findings have important implications for those pursuing plasma therapy, isolation of neutralizing monoclonal antibodies, and determinants of immunity.

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