November 12, 2020

Seasonal Human Coronavirus Antibodies Are Boosted upon SARS-CoV-2 Infection but Not Associated with Protection

Category: Article Summary

Topic: Vaccines and Immunity

Keywords (Tags): immunity

• [Pre-print, not peer reviewed] An analysis suggests that prior infection with human coronaviruses other than SARS-CoV-2 is not associated with protection from SARS-CoV-2 infection. The authors found no significant differences in the levels of pre-pandemic human coronavirus antibodies cross-reactive to SARS-CoV-2 proteins between a cohort of people eventually infected with SARS-CoV-2 (n=251) and a matched cohort who was not (n=251). This relationship held even after analyzing a smaller cohort (39 SARS-CoV-2 infected, 57 non-infected) whose pre-pandemic serum samples were collected a year before March 2020.
• Meanwhile, longitudinal analysis of a separate cohort of 27 COVID-19 patients found that SARS-CoV-2 infection boosts antibodies reactive to other human coronaviruses.

Anderson et al. (Nov 10, 2020). Seasonal Human Coronavirus Antibodies Are Boosted upon SARS-CoV-2 Infection but Not Associated with Protection. Pre-print downloaded Nov 12 from https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.11.06.20227215