Persistent humoral and CD4 + T H cell immunity after mild SARS-COV-2 infection—The CoNAN long-term study

GND
1299781691
Affiliation
Institute for Infectious Diseases and Infection Control, Jena University Hospital- Friedrich Schiller University ,Jena ,Germany
Schnizer, Clara;
GND
1122141777
Affiliation
Institute of Immunology, Jena University Hospital - Friedrich Schiller University ,Jena ,Germany
Andreas, Nico;
GND
1214610390
Affiliation
Institute for Infectious Diseases and Infection Control, Jena University Hospital- Friedrich Schiller University ,Jena ,Germany
Vivas, Wolfgang;
GND
123172292
Affiliation
Institute of Immunology, Jena University Hospital - Friedrich Schiller University ,Jena ,Germany
Kamradt, Thomas;
GND
1146654898
Affiliation
Institute of Medical Microbiology, Jena University Hospital- Friedrich Schiller University ,Jena ,Germany
Baier, Michael;
GND
114935971
Affiliation
Institute of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Diagnostics and Integrated Biobank Jena (IBBJ), Jena University Hospital- Friedrich Schiller University ,Jena ,Germany
Kiehntopf, Michael;
GND
1299784968
Affiliation
Institute of Medical Microbiology, Jena University Hospital- Friedrich Schiller University ,Jena ,Germany
Glöckner, Stefan;
GND
13575710X
Affiliation
Institute of Medical Statistics, Computer and Data Sciences, Jena University Hospital- Friedrich Schiller University ,Jena ,Germany
Scherag, André;
GND
1182580505
Affiliation
Institute of Medical Microbiology, Jena University Hospital- Friedrich Schiller University ,Jena ,Germany
Löffler, Bettina;
GND
1253809380
Affiliation
Institute for Infectious Diseases and Infection Control, Jena University Hospital- Friedrich Schiller University ,Jena ,Germany
Kolanos, Steffi;
GND
123402084X
Affiliation
Institute for Infectious Diseases and Infection Control, Jena University Hospital- Friedrich Schiller University ,Jena ,Germany
Guerra, Joel;
GND
123964334
Affiliation
Institute for Infectious Diseases and Infection Control, Jena University Hospital- Friedrich Schiller University ,Jena ,Germany
Pletz, Mathias W.;
GND
136179428
Affiliation
Institute for Infectious Diseases and Infection Control, Jena University Hospital- Friedrich Schiller University ,Jena ,Germany
Weis, Sebastian

Understanding persistent cellular and humoral immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 will be of major importance to terminate the ongoing pandemic. Here, we assessed long-term immunity in individuals with mild COVID-19 up to 1 year after a localized SARS-CoV-2 outbreak. CoNAN was a longitudinal population-based cohort study performed 1.5 months, 6 months, and 12 months after a SARS-CoV-2 outbreak in a rural German community. We performed a time series of five different IgG immunoassays assessing SARS-CoV-2 antibody responses on serum samples from individuals that had been tested positive after a SARS-CoV-2 outbreak and in control individuals who had a negative PCR result. These analyses were complemented with the determination of spike-antigen specific TH cell responses in the same individuals. All infected participants were presented as asymptomatic or mild cases. Participants initially tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 infection either with PCR, antibody testing, or both had a rapid initial decline in the serum antibody levels in all serological tests but showed a persisting T H cell immunity as assessed by the detection of SARS-CoV-2 specificity of T H cells for up to 1 year after infection. Our data support the notion of a persistent T-cell immunity in mild and asymptomatic cases of SARS-CoV-2 up to 1 year after infection. We show that antibody titers decline over 1 year, but considering several test results, complete seroreversion is rare. Trial registration German Clinical Trials Register DRKS00022416.

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License Holder: Copyright © 2023 Schnizer, Andreas, Vivas, Kamradt, Baier, Kiehntopf, Glöckner, Scherag, Löffler, Kolanos, Guerra, Pletz and Weis

Use and reproduction:
This publication is with permission of the rights owner freely accessible due to an Alliance licence and a national licence (funded by the DFG, German Research Foundation) respectively.