Coronavirus disease (SARS-CoV-2) is an infectious disease caused by a newly discovered coronavirus.

Most people infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus will experience mild to moderate respiratory illness and recover without requiring special treatment.  Older people and those with underlying medical problems like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease, and cancer are more likely to develop serious illness.

The levels of IgG antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein remain stable, or even increase, seven months after infection, according to a follow-up study in a cohort of healthcare workers. The results, published, also support the idea that pre-existing antibodies against common cold coronaviruses could protect against COVID-19.

Journal of Medical Research & Health Education is an open access, online, peer reviewed international journal with a primary objective to reach the health sciences professionals with genuine and reliable source of data on current research on medicine and health education.

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Discussion

In order to predict the pandemic's evolution and develop effective strategies, it is critical to better understand the dynamics and duration of immunity to SARS-CoV-2 as well as the possible role of pre-existing antibodies against the coronaviruses that cause common colds. With this goal in mind, the team followed a cohort of healthcare workers at the Hospital Clinic from the beginning of the pandemic, in order to evaluate the levels of antibodies against different SARS-CoV-2 antigens over time.

The research team analyzed blood samples from 578 participants, taken at four different timepoints between March and October 2020. They used the Luminex technology to measure, in the same sample, the level and type of IgA, IgM or IgG antibodies to six SARS-CoV-2 antigens as well as the presence of antibodies against the four coronaviruses that cause common colds in humans. They also analyzed the neutralizing activity of antibodies.

The results show that the majority of infections among healthcare workers occurred during the first pandemic wave (the percentage of participants with SARS-CoV-2 antibodies increased only slightly between March and October—from 13.5% to 16.4%). With the exception of IgM and IgG antibodies against the nucleocapsid (N), the rest of IgG antibodies (including those with neutralizing activity) remained stable over time, confirming results from other recent studies.

Rather surprisingly, even saw an increase of IgG anti-Spike antibodies in 75% of the participants from month five onwards, without any evidence of re-exposure to the virus. No reinfections were observed in the cohort.

Conclusion

Regarding antibodies against human cold coronaviruses (HCoV), the results suggest that they could confer cross-protection against COVID-19 infection or disease. People who were infected by SARS-CoV-2 had lower levels of HCoV antibodies. Moreover, asymptomatic individuals had higher levels of anti-HCoV IgG and IgA than those with symptomatic infections. Although cross-protection by pre-existing immunity to common cold coronaviruses remains to be confirmed, this could help explain the big differences in susceptibility to the disease within the population.

Thank& Regards

Lucy Morgan

Editorial assistant

Journal of Medical Research & Health Education

Email: medresearch@echemistry.org