Long-term persistence of neutralizing memory B cells in SARS-CoV-2
Type
PreprintAuthor/s
Bull, RowenaAbayasingam, Arunasingam
Balachandran, Harikrishnan
Agapiou, David
Rodrigo, Chaturaka
Keoshkerian, Elizabeth
Li, Hui
Brasher, Nicholas
Christ, Daniel
Rouet, Romain
Burnett, Deborah
Grubor-Bauk, Branka
Rawlinson, William
Turville, Stuart
Aggarwal, Anupriya
Brilot, Fabienne
Mina, Michael
Post, Jeffrey
Hudson, Bernard
Gilroy, Nicky
Dwyer, Dominic
Sasson, Sarah
Tea, Fiona
Pilli, Deepti
Tedla, Nicodemus
Lloyd, Andrew
Martinello, Marianne
Abstract
Considerable concerns relating to the duration of protective immunity against SARS-CoV-2 have been raised, with evidence of antibody titres declining rapidly after infection and reports of reinfection. Here we monitored antibody responses against SARS-CoV-2 receptor binding domain ...
See moreConsiderable concerns relating to the duration of protective immunity against SARS-CoV-2 have been raised, with evidence of antibody titres declining rapidly after infection and reports of reinfection. Here we monitored antibody responses against SARS-CoV-2 receptor binding domain (RBD) for up to six months after infection. While antibody titres were maintained, half of the cohort's neutralising responses had returned to background. However, encouragingly in a selected subset of 13 participants, 12 had detectable RBD-specific memory B cells and these generally increased out to 6 months. Furthermore, we were able to generate monoclonal antibodies with SARS-CoV-2 neutralising capacity from these memory B cells. Overall our study suggests that the loss of neutralising antibodies in plasma may be countered by the maintenance of neutralising capacity in the memory B cell repertoire.
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See moreConsiderable concerns relating to the duration of protective immunity against SARS-CoV-2 have been raised, with evidence of antibody titres declining rapidly after infection and reports of reinfection. Here we monitored antibody responses against SARS-CoV-2 receptor binding domain (RBD) for up to six months after infection. While antibody titres were maintained, half of the cohort's neutralising responses had returned to background. However, encouragingly in a selected subset of 13 participants, 12 had detectable RBD-specific memory B cells and these generally increased out to 6 months. Furthermore, we were able to generate monoclonal antibodies with SARS-CoV-2 neutralising capacity from these memory B cells. Overall our study suggests that the loss of neutralising antibodies in plasma may be countered by the maintenance of neutralising capacity in the memory B cell repertoire.
See less
Date
2020Share