Serological investigation of asymptomatic cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection reveals weak and declining antibody responses.

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  • Additional Information
    • Source:
      Publisher: Taylor & Francis Country of Publication: United States NLM ID: 101594885 Publication Model: Print Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 2222-1751 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 22221751 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Emerg Microbes Infect Subsets: MEDLINE
    • Publication Information:
      Publication: 2019- : [Philadelphia, PA] : Taylor & Francis
      Original Publication: New York : NPG, 2012-2018.
    • Subject Terms:
      Asymptomatic Infections* ; COVID-19 Serological Testing* ; Pandemics*; Antibodies, Neutralizing/*blood ; Antibodies, Viral/*blood ; COVID-19/*immunology ; Immunoglobulin G/*blood ; Immunoglobulin M/*blood ; SARS-CoV-2/*immunology; Antibodies, Neutralizing/biosynthesis ; Antibodies, Viral/biosynthesis ; B-Lymphocytes ; COVID-19/epidemiology ; COVID-19 Nucleic Acid Testing ; China/epidemiology ; Convalescence ; Cytokines/blood ; Disease Susceptibility ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Follow-Up Studies ; Food Handling ; Genome, Viral ; Humans ; Immunity, Herd ; Immunoglobulin G/biosynthesis ; Immunoglobulin M/biosynthesis ; Lymphocyte Count ; Lymphopenia/etiology ; Phylogeny ; RNA, Viral/blood ; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction ; SARS-CoV-2/genetics ; Seroepidemiologic Studies ; Sputum/virology
    • Abstract:
      Without an effective vaccine against SARS-CoV-2, the build-up of herd immunity through natural infection has been suggested as a means to control COVID-19. Although population immunity is typically estimated by the serological investigation of recovered patients, humoral immunity in asymptomatic subjects has not been well studied, although they represent a large proportion of all SARS-CoV-2 infection cases. In this study, we conducted a serosurvey of asymptomatic infections among food workers and performed serological and cellular response analyses of asymptomatic subjects in Wuhan, the original epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak. Our data showed that up to 5.91% of the food workers carried SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies asymptomatically; however, in 90.4% of them, the antibody level declined over a 2-week period. IgM and IgG antibodies, including neutralizing antibodies, were significantly lower in asymptomatic subjects than in recovered symptomatic patients with similar disease courses. Furthermore, the asymptomatic subjects showed lymphopenia and a prominent decrease in the B-cell population, as well as a low frequency of antibody-secreting cells and a low cytokine response. These factors probably contributed to the low and unsustained antibody levels in asymptomatic subjects. Our results show that asymptomatic subjects are likely to be vulnerable to SARS-CoV-2 reinfection, and neither the proportion of population immunity nor the breadth of immune responses is sufficient for herd immunity.
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    • Contributed Indexing:
      Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; asymptomatic; serology; weak antibody response
    • Accession Number:
      0 (Antibodies, Neutralizing)
      0 (Antibodies, Viral)
      0 (Cytokines)
      0 (Immunoglobulin G)
      0 (Immunoglobulin M)
      0 (RNA, Viral)
    • Publication Date:
      Date Created: 20210419 Date Completed: 20210525 Latest Revision: 20211217
    • Publication Date:
      20240628
    • Accession Number:
      PMC8143642
    • Accession Number:
      10.1080/22221751.2021.1919032
    • Accession Number:
      33870851