Epitope Coverage of Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Nucleocapsid IgA and IgG Antibodies Correlates with Protection against Re-Infection by New Variants in Subsequent Waves of the COVID-19 Pandemic
| dc.contributor.author | Mullins, Michelle O. | |
| dc.contributor.author | Smith, Muneerah | |
| dc.contributor.author | Maboreke, Hazel | |
| dc.contributor.author | Nel, Andrew J. M. | |
| dc.contributor.author | Ntusi, Ntobeko A. B. | |
| dc.contributor.author | Burgers, Wendy A. | |
| dc.contributor.author | Blackburn, Jonathan M. | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2024-04-29T10:31:18Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2024-04-29T10:31:18Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2023-02-20 | |
| dc.date.updated | 2023-02-24T14:09:33Z | |
| dc.description.abstract | The COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect individuals across the globe, with some individuals experiencing more severe disease than others. The relatively high frequency of re-infections and breakthrough infections observed with SARS-CoV-2 highlights the importance of extending our understanding of immunity to COVID-19. Here, we aim to shed light on the importance of antibody titres and epitope utilization in protection from re-infection. Health care workers are highly exposed to SARS-CoV-2 and are therefore also more likely to become re-infected. We utilized quantitative, multi-antigen, multi-epitope SARS-CoV-2 protein microarrays to measure IgG and IgA titres against various domains of the nucleocapsid and spike proteins. Potential re-infections in a large, diverse health care worker cohort (N = 300) during the second wave of the pandemic were identified by assessing the IgG anti-N titres before and after the second wave. We assessed epitope coverage and antibody titres between the ‘single infection’ and ‘re-infection’ groups. Clear differences were observed in the breadth of the anti-N response before the second wave, with the epitope coverage for both IgG (<i>p</i> = 0.019) and IgA (<i>p</i> = 0.015) being significantly increased in those who did not become re-infected compared to those who did. Additionally, the IgG anti-N (<i>p</i> = 0.004) and anti-S titres (<i>p</i> = 0.018) were significantly higher in those not re-infected. These results highlight the importance of the breadth of elicited antibody epitope coverage following natural infection in protection from re-infection and disease in the COVID-19 pandemic. | |
| dc.identifier | doi: 10.3390/v15020584 | |
| dc.identifier.apacitation | Mullins, Michelle O., Smith, M., Maboreke, H., Nel, Andrew J. M., Ntusi, Ntobeko A. B., Burgers, Wendy A., & Blackburn, Jonathan M. (2023). Epitope Coverage of Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Nucleocapsid IgA and IgG Antibodies Correlates with Protection against Re-Infection by New Variants in Subsequent Waves of the COVID-19 Pandemic. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/39490 | en_ZA |
| dc.identifier.chicagocitation | Mullins, Michelle O., Muneerah Smith, Hazel Maboreke, Andrew J. M. Nel, Ntobeko A. B. Ntusi, Wendy A. Burgers, and Jonathan M. Blackburn "Epitope Coverage of Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Nucleocapsid IgA and IgG Antibodies Correlates with Protection against Re-Infection by New Variants in Subsequent Waves of the COVID-19 Pandemic." (2023) http://hdl.handle.net/11427/39490 | en_ZA |
| dc.identifier.citation | Viruses 15 (2): 584 (2023) | |
| dc.identifier.ris | TY - Journal Article AU - Mullins, Michelle O. AU - Smith, Muneerah AU - Maboreke, Hazel AU - Nel, Andrew J. M. AU - Ntusi, Ntobeko A. B. AU - Burgers, Wendy A. AU - Blackburn, Jonathan M. AB - The COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect individuals across the globe, with some individuals experiencing more severe disease than others. The relatively high frequency of re-infections and breakthrough infections observed with SARS-CoV-2 highlights the importance of extending our understanding of immunity to COVID-19. Here, we aim to shed light on the importance of antibody titres and epitope utilization in protection from re-infection. Health care workers are highly exposed to SARS-CoV-2 and are therefore also more likely to become re-infected. We utilized quantitative, multi-antigen, multi-epitope SARS-CoV-2 protein microarrays to measure IgG and IgA titres against various domains of the nucleocapsid and spike proteins. Potential re-infections in a large, diverse health care worker cohort (N = 300) during the second wave of the pandemic were identified by assessing the IgG anti-N titres before and after the second wave. We assessed epitope coverage and antibody titres between the ‘single infection’ and ‘re-infection’ groups. Clear differences were observed in the breadth of the anti-N response before the second wave, with the epitope coverage for both IgG (<i>p</i> = 0.019) and IgA (<i>p</i> = 0.015) being significantly increased in those who did not become re-infected compared to those who did. Additionally, the IgG anti-N (<i>p</i> = 0.004) and anti-S titres (<i>p</i> = 0.018) were significantly higher in those not re-infected. These results highlight the importance of the breadth of elicited antibody epitope coverage following natural infection in protection from re-infection and disease in the COVID-19 pandemic. DA - 2023-02-20 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PY - 2023 T1 - Epitope Coverage of Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Nucleocapsid IgA and IgG Antibodies Correlates with Protection against Re-Infection by New Variants in Subsequent Waves of the COVID-19 Pandemic TI - Epitope Coverage of Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Nucleocapsid IgA and IgG Antibodies Correlates with Protection against Re-Infection by New Variants in Subsequent Waves of the COVID-19 Pandemic UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/39490 ER - | en_ZA |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/39490 | |
| dc.identifier.vancouvercitation | Mullins Michelle O, Smith M, Maboreke H, Nel Andrew J M, Ntusi Ntobeko A B, Burgers Wendy A, et al. Epitope Coverage of Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Nucleocapsid IgA and IgG Antibodies Correlates with Protection against Re-Infection by New Variants in Subsequent Waves of the COVID-19 Pandemic. 2023; http://hdl.handle.net/11427/39490. | en_ZA |
| dc.title | Epitope Coverage of Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Nucleocapsid IgA and IgG Antibodies Correlates with Protection against Re-Infection by New Variants in Subsequent Waves of the COVID-19 Pandemic | |
| dc.type | Journal Article |