Determination of neutralising anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody half-life in COVID-19 convalescent donors

• Published in: Clinical immunology (Orlando, Fla.) Vol. 232; p. 108871
• Main Authors: Barnes, Thomas W., Schulte-Pelkum, Johannes, Steller, Laura, Filchtinski, Daniel, Jenness, Robin, Williams, Michelle R., Kober, Christina, Manni, Sandro, Hauser, Thomas, Hahn, Aaron, Kalina, Uwe, Simon, Toby L., Schuetz, Patrick, Roth, Nathan J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01.11.2021; The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc
• Subjects: Adult; Antibodies, Neutralizing - immunology; Antibodies, Neutralizing - metabolism; Antibodies, Neutralizing - therapeutic use; Antibodies, Viral - immunology; Antibodies, Viral - metabolism; Antibodies, Viral - therapeutic use; Blood Donors; Convalescent donor; COVID-19; COVID-19 - immunology; COVID-19 - metabolism; COVID-19 - therapy; COVID-19 Serotherapy; Female; Half-Life; Humans; Immunization, Passive; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Middle Aged; Neutralising antibodies; Plasma - immunology; Plasma - metabolism; SARS-CoV-2; SARS-CoV-2 - immunology; Young Adult; MN; PPPT; Convalescent donor; IgG; Neutralising antibodies; nAb; COVID-19; ACE2; SARS-CoV-2; NC; FcRn; CPE; Half-life; S1
• ISSN: 1521-6616; 1521-7035
• DOI: 10.1016/j.clim.2021.108871

Despite the burgeoning field of coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) research, the persistence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) neutralising antibodies remains unclear. This study validated two high-throughput immunological methods for use as surrogate live virus neutralisation assays and employed them to examine the half-life of SARS-CoV-2 neutralising antibodies in convalescent plasma donations made by 42 repeat donors between April and September 2020. SARS-CoV-2 neutralising antibody titres decreased over time but typically remained above the methods' diagnostic cut-offs. Using this longitudinal data, the average half-life of SARS-CoV-2 neutralising antibodies was determined to be 20.4 days. SARS-CoV-2 neutralising antibody titres appear to persist in the majority of donors for several months. Whether these titres confer protection against re-infection requires further study and is of particular relevance as COVID-19 vaccines become widely available. •A longitudinal analysis of SARS-CoV-2 neutralising antibodies was performed.•Donor samples were tracked sequentially up to 168 days post-SARS-CoV-2 detection.•Neutralising antibody titres declined over time but tended to remain above baseline.•SARS-CoV-2 neutralising antibodies had an average half-life of 20.4 days.