[PDF][PDF] Seasonal human coronavirus antibodies are boosted upon SARS-CoV-2 infection but not associated with protection

EM Anderson, EC Goodwin, A Verma, CP Arevalo… - Cell, 2021 - cell.com
EM Anderson, EC Goodwin, A Verma, CP Arevalo, MJ Bolton, ME Weirick, S Gouma…
Cell, 2021cell.com
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has rapidly spread within
the human population. Although SARS-CoV-2 is a novel coronavirus, most humans had
been previously exposed to other antigenically distinct common seasonal human
coronaviruses (hCoVs) before the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Here,
we quantified levels of SARS-CoV-2-reactive antibodies and hCoV-reactive antibodies in
serum samples collected from 431 humans before the COVID-19 pandemic. We then …
Summary
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has rapidly spread within the human population. Although SARS-CoV-2 is a novel coronavirus, most humans had been previously exposed to other antigenically distinct common seasonal human coronaviruses (hCoVs) before the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Here, we quantified levels of SARS-CoV-2-reactive antibodies and hCoV-reactive antibodies in serum samples collected from 431 humans before the COVID-19 pandemic. We then quantified pre-pandemic antibody levels in serum from a separate cohort of 251 individuals who became PCR-confirmed infected with SARS-CoV-2. Finally, we longitudinally measured hCoV and SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in the serum of hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Our studies indicate that most individuals possessed hCoV-reactive antibodies before the COVID-19 pandemic. We determined that ∼20% of these individuals possessed non-neutralizing antibodies that cross-reacted with SARS-CoV-2 spike and nucleocapsid proteins. These antibodies were not associated with protection against SARS-CoV-2 infections or hospitalizations, but they were boosted upon SARS-CoV-2 infection.
cell.com