Cell Reports Medicine (Apr 2021)
Long-term persistence of RBD+ memory B cells encoding neutralizing antibodies in SARS-CoV-2 infection
- Arunasingam Abayasingam,
- Harikrishnan Balachandran,
- David Agapiou,
- Mohamed Hammoud,
- Chaturaka Rodrigo,
- Elizabeth Keoshkerian,
- Hui Li,
- Nicholas A. Brasher,
- Daniel Christ,
- Romain Rouet,
- Deborah Burnet,
- Branka Grubor-Bauk,
- William Rawlinson,
- Stuart Turville,
- Anupriya Aggarwal,
- Alberto Ospina Stella,
- Christina Fichter,
- Fabienne Brilot,
- Michael Mina,
- Jeffrey J. Post,
- Bernard Hudson,
- Nicky Gilroy,
- Dominic Dwyer,
- Sarah C. Sasson,
- Fiona Tea,
- Deepti Pilli,
- Anthony Kelleher,
- Nicodemus Tedla,
- Andrew R. Lloyd,
- Marianne Martinello,
- Rowena A. Bull
Affiliations
- Arunasingam Abayasingam
- School of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, UNSW Australia, Sydney, NSW, Australia; The Kirby Institute, UNSW Australia, Sydney, NSW, Australia
- Harikrishnan Balachandran
- School of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, UNSW Australia, Sydney, NSW, Australia; The Kirby Institute, UNSW Australia, Sydney, NSW, Australia
- David Agapiou
- The Kirby Institute, UNSW Australia, Sydney, NSW, Australia
- Mohamed Hammoud
- The Kirby Institute, UNSW Australia, Sydney, NSW, Australia
- Chaturaka Rodrigo
- School of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, UNSW Australia, Sydney, NSW, Australia; The Kirby Institute, UNSW Australia, Sydney, NSW, Australia
- Elizabeth Keoshkerian
- The Kirby Institute, UNSW Australia, Sydney, NSW, Australia
- Hui Li
- The Kirby Institute, UNSW Australia, Sydney, NSW, Australia
- Nicholas A. Brasher
- School of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, UNSW Australia, Sydney, NSW, Australia; The Kirby Institute, UNSW Australia, Sydney, NSW, Australia
- Daniel Christ
- Garvan Institute of Medical Research, 384 Victoria Street, Darlinghurst 2010, NSW, Australia
- Romain Rouet
- Garvan Institute of Medical Research, 384 Victoria Street, Darlinghurst 2010, NSW, Australia
- Deborah Burnet
- Garvan Institute of Medical Research, 384 Victoria Street, Darlinghurst 2010, NSW, Australia
- Branka Grubor-Bauk
- Virology Laboratory, Discipline of Surgery, The University of Adelaide and Basil Hetzel Institute for Translational Health Research, Adelaide 5011, SA, Australia
- William Rawlinson
- School of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, UNSW Australia, Sydney, NSW, Australia; Serology and Virology Division, Department of Microbiology, NSW Health Pathology, Prince of Wales Hospital, Sydney, NSW, Australia
- Stuart Turville
- The Kirby Institute, UNSW Australia, Sydney, NSW, Australia
- Anupriya Aggarwal
- The Kirby Institute, UNSW Australia, Sydney, NSW, Australia
- Alberto Ospina Stella
- The Kirby Institute, UNSW Australia, Sydney, NSW, Australia
- Christina Fichter
- The Kirby Institute, UNSW Australia, Sydney, NSW, Australia
- Fabienne Brilot
- Faculty of Medicine and Health, School of Medical Sciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia; Brain Autoimmunity Group, Kids Neurosciences Centre, Kids Research at the Children’s Hospital at Westmead, Sydney, NSW, Australia
- Michael Mina
- Northern Beaches Hospital, Sydney, NSW, Australia
- Jeffrey J. Post
- Prince of Wales Clinical School, UNSW Australia, Sydney, NSW Australia
- Bernard Hudson
- Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney, NSW, Australia
- Nicky Gilroy
- Westmead Hospital, Sydney, NSW, Australia
- Dominic Dwyer
- Westmead Hospital, Sydney, NSW, Australia
- Sarah C. Sasson
- The Kirby Institute, UNSW Australia, Sydney, NSW, Australia
- Fiona Tea
- Faculty of Medicine and Health, School of Medical Sciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia; Brain Autoimmunity Group, Kids Neurosciences Centre, Kids Research at the Children’s Hospital at Westmead, Sydney, NSW, Australia
- Deepti Pilli
- Faculty of Medicine and Health, School of Medical Sciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia; Brain Autoimmunity Group, Kids Neurosciences Centre, Kids Research at the Children’s Hospital at Westmead, Sydney, NSW, Australia
- Anthony Kelleher
- The Kirby Institute, UNSW Australia, Sydney, NSW, Australia
- Nicodemus Tedla
- School of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, UNSW Australia, Sydney, NSW, Australia
- Andrew R. Lloyd
- The Kirby Institute, UNSW Australia, Sydney, NSW, Australia
- Marianne Martinello
- The Kirby Institute, UNSW Australia, Sydney, NSW, Australia; Westmead Hospital, Sydney, NSW, Australia; Blacktown Mt Druitt Hospital, Blacktown, NSW, Australia
- Rowena A. Bull
- School of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, UNSW Australia, Sydney, NSW, Australia; The Kirby Institute, UNSW Australia, Sydney, NSW, Australia; Corresponding author
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 2,
no. 4
p. 100228
Abstract
Summary: Considerable concerns relating to the duration of protective immunity against severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) exist, with evidence of antibody titers declining rapidly after infection and reports of reinfection. Here, we monitor the antibody responses against SARS-CoV-2 receptor-binding domain (RBD) for up to 6 months after infection. While antibody titers are maintained, ∼13% of the cohort’s neutralizing responses return to background. However, encouragingly, in a selected subset of 13 participants, 12 have detectable RBD-specific memory B cells and these generally are increasing out to 6 months. Furthermore, we are able to generate monoclonal antibodies with SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing capacity from these memory B cells. Overall, our study suggests that the loss of neutralizing antibodies in plasma may be countered by the maintenance of neutralizing capacity in the memory B cell repertoire.
