Discordant neutralizing antibody and T cell responses in asymptomatic and mild SARS-CoV-2 infection.
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Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Understanding the nature of immunity following mild/asymptomatic infection with SARS-CoV-2 is crucial to controlling the pandemic. We analyzed T cell and neutralizing antibody responses in 136 healthcare workers (HCW) 16-18 weeks after United Kingdom lockdown, 76 of whom had mild/asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection captured by serial sampling. Neutralizing antibodies (nAb) were present in 89% of previously infected HCW. T cell responses tended to be lower following asymptomatic infection than in those reporting case-definition symptoms of COVID-19, while nAb titers were maintained irrespective of symptoms. T cell and antibody responses were sometimes discordant. Eleven percent lacked nAb and had undetectable T cell responses to spike protein but had T cells reactive with other SARS-CoV-2 antigens. Our findings suggest that the majority of individuals with mild or asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection carry nAb complemented by multispecific T cell responses at 16-18 weeks after mild or asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Date Issued
2020-12-23
Date Acceptance
2020-12-18
Citation
Science Immunology, 2020, 5 (54), pp.1-19
ISSN
2470-9468
Publisher
American Association for the Advancement of Science
Start Page
1
End Page
19
Journal / Book Title
Science Immunology
Volume
5
Issue
54
Copyright Statement
© 2020, American Association for the Advancement of Science https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
License URL
Identifier
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33361161
PII: 5/54/eabf3698
Subjects
Antibodies, Neutralizing
Antibodies, Viral
Asymptomatic Infections
COVID-19
Case-Control Studies
Cross-Sectional Studies
Humans
SARS-CoV-2
T-Lymphocytes
Publication Status
Published
Coverage Spatial
United States
Date Publish Online
2020-12-23