March 12, 2021

Estimated Half-Life of SARS-CoV-2 Anti-Spike Antibodies More than Double the Half-Life of Anti-Nucleocapsid Antibodies in Healthcare Workers

Category: Article Summary

Topic: Vaccines and Immunity

Keywords (Tags): antibodies, immunity

• Among healthcare-workers (HCWs) (n=118) who had a previous SARS-CoV-2 infection, 92% were still positive for anti-spike (S) antibodies compared to only 18% for IgG anti-nucleocapsid (N) antibodies after 7-10 months. At 1-3 months, 98% of HCWs were positive for anti-S antibodies compared to 85.6% anti-N antibodies. The mean half-life for anti-S antibodies was 19 days compared to 76.4 days for anti-N antibodies. The majority of participants had experienced mild COVID-19 disease; 6 participants had been briefly hospitalized. These findings could have implications for the estimated duration of the antibody response after vaccination. 

Van Elslande et al. (Mar 8, 2021). Estimated Half-Life of SARS-CoV-2 Anti-Spike Antibodies More than Double the Half-Life of Anti-Nucleocapsid Antibodies in Healthcare Workers. Clinical Infectious Diseases. https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciab219