Elife
. 2021 Nov 23;10:e70330.
doi: 10.7554/eLife.70330.
Cross-reactive antibodies after SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccination
Marloes Grobben # 1 , Karlijn van der Straten # 1 , Philip Jm Brouwer 1 , Mitch Brinkkemper 1 , Pauline Maisonnasse 2 , Nathalie Dereuddre-Bosquet 2 , Brent Appelman 1 , Ah Ayesha Lavell 1 , Lonneke A van Vught 3 , Judith A Burger 1 , Meliawati Poniman 1 , Melissa Oomen 1 , Dirk Eggink 4 , Tom Pl Bijl 1 , Hugo Dg van Willigen 1 , Elke Wynberg 5 , Bas J Verkaik 1 , Orlane Ja Figaroa 1 , Peter J de Vries 6 , Tessel M Boertien 6 , Amsterdam UMC COVID-19 S3/HCW study group; Marije K Bomers 1 , Jonne J Sikkens 1 , Roger Le Grand 7 , Menno D de Jong 8 , Maria Prins 2 , Amy W Chung 9 , Godelieve J de Bree 1 , Rogier W Sanders 1 , Marit J van Gils 1
Affiliations
- PMID: 34812143
- DOI: 10.7554/eLife.70330
Abstract
Current SARS-CoV-2 vaccines are losing efficacy against emerging variants and may not protect against future novel coronavirus outbreaks, emphasizing the need for more broadly protective vaccines. To inform the development of a pan-coronavirus vaccine, we investigated the presence and specificity of cross-reactive antibodies against the spike (S) proteins of human coronaviruses (hCoV) after SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccination. We found an 11- to 123-fold increase in antibodies binding to SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV as well as a 2- to 4-fold difference in antibodies binding to seasonal hCoVs in COVID-19 convalescent sera compared to pre-pandemic healthy donors, with the S2 subdomain of the S protein being the main target for cross-reactivity. In addition, we detected cross-reactive antibodies to all hCoV S proteins after SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in macaques and humans, with higher responses for hCoV more closely related to SARS-CoV-2. These findings support the feasibility of and provide guidance for development of a pan-coronavirus vaccine.
Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; antibodies; coronavirus; cross-reactivity; human; immunology; infectious disease; inflammation; microbiology; vaccine.