Open AccessCharacterization of antibody response in asymptomatic and symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection
Author(s) -
Serena Marchi,
Simonetta Viviani,
Edmond J. Remarque,
Antonella Ruello,
Emilio Bombardieri,
Valentina Bollati,
Gregorio P. Milani,
Alessandro Manenti,
Giulia Lapini,
Annunziata Rebuffat,
Emanuele Montomoli,
Claudia Maria Trombetta
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0253977
Subject(s) - asymptomatic , antibody , medicine , antibody response , immunology , neutralizing antibody , asymptomatic carrier , virology , covid-19 , antigen , disease , infectious disease (medical specialty)
SARS-CoV-2 pandemic is causing high morbidity and mortality burden worldwide with unprecedented strain on health care systems. To investigate the time course of the antibody response in relation to the outcome we performed a study in hospitalized COVID-19 patients. As comparison we also investigated the time course of the antibody response in SARS-CoV-2 asymptomatic subjects. Study results show that patients produce a strong antibody response to SARS-CoV-2 with high correlation between different viral antigens (spike protein and nucleoprotein) and among antibody classes (IgA, IgG, and IgM and neutralizing antibodies). The antibody peak is reached by 3 weeks from hospital admission followed by a sharp decrease. No difference was observed in any parameter of the antibody classes, including neutralizing antibodies, between subjects who recovered or with fatal outcome. Only few asymptomatic subjects developed antibodies at detectable levels.