What can neutralizing antibodies tell us about the quality of immunity in COVID-19 convalescents and vaccinees?

During the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, the lack of standardized measurements of the immune response after vaccination or recovery from COVID-19 resulted in incomparable results and hindered correlation establishment. Prioritizing reliable and standardized methods to monitor pathogen-specific immunity is cr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics 2023-12, Vol.19 (3), p.2270310-2270310
Main Authors: Ravlić, Sanda, Kurtović, Tihana, Cvetko Krajinović, Lidija, Hećimović, Ana, Miloš, Marija, Mateljak Lukačević, Sanja, Markotić, Alemka, Halassy, Beata
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Ad26COVS1
Antibodies, Neutralizing
Antibodies, Viral
BNT162 Vaccine
COVID-19 - prevention & control
COVID-19 convalescents
COVID-19 vaccines
Humans
Immunity, Humoral
Neutralizing antibodies
Pandemics
SARS-CoV-2
Vaccination
wild-type SARS-CoV-2 neutralization assay
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Summary:During the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, the lack of standardized measurements of the immune response after vaccination or recovery from COVID-19 resulted in incomparable results and hindered correlation establishment. Prioritizing reliable and standardized methods to monitor pathogen-specific immunity is crucial, not only during the COVID-19 pandemic but also for future outbreaks. During our study of the humoral immune response, we used a SARS-CoV-2 wild-type neutralization assay, ensuring the measurement of the immune response directed to all SARS-CoV-2 antigens in their proper conformation. A head-to-head comparison of the neutralizing antibody (NAb) responses elicited by four vaccines used in Europe during 2021 (BNT162b2, mRNA-1273, ChAdOx nCoV-19, and Ad26.COV2.S) and their comparison to NAb responses in convalescents showed that while the amount was comparable, NAbs induced by natural infection were of higher quality. Namely, NAbs produced by disease were better activators of the complement system than NAbs induced by vaccination. Furthermore, the contribution of spike protein-specific IgGs to the SARS-CoV-2 neutralization was lower in convalescents compared to vaccinees, indicating that those who recovered from COVID-19 were armed with antibodies of additional specificities and/or classes that contributed to virus neutralization. These findings suggest that a higher stringency of public policy measures targeting individuals who have recovered from COVID-19, in comparison to those who have been vaccinated, may not have been fully justified.
ISSN:2164-5515
2164-554X
DOI:10.1080/21645515.2023.2270310