tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
J Med Virol
. 2021 May 4.
doi: 10.1002/jmv.27059. Online ahead of print.
Determinants of IgG antibodies kinetics after severe and critical COVID-19
Julien De Greef[SUP] 1 2 [/SUP], Ana?s Scohy[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Francis Zech[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Aboubakar Frank[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Charles Pilette[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Ludovic Gerard[SUP] 2 5 [/SUP], Lucie Pothen[SUP] 1 2 [/SUP], Halil Yildiz[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Le?la Belkhir[SUP] 1 2 [/SUP], Jean-Cyr Yombi[SUP] 1 2 [/SUP]
Affiliations
Abstract
Background: The kinetics of IgG antibodies after COVID-19 remain poorly understood. We investigated factors influencing severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) IgG antibody levels and time to seronegativation during the follow-up of severe and critically ill patients.
Methods: We retrospectively reviewed serological evaluations drawn during the follow-up of severe or critical laboratory proven COVID-19 patients hospitalized at a large academic hospital. Specific IgG titers were measured using a chemiluminescent assay targeting anti-spike and anti-nucleocapsid protein IgG. The influence of time, demographic factors, clinical and paraclinical characteristics, and COVID-19 therapeutics on IgG levels was assessed through linear regression using a mixed-effect model, and delay until IgG negativation through a Weibull regression model.
Results: The cohort included 116 patients with a total of 154 IgG measurements drawn at a median of 79 days after diagnosis. IgG antibodies were increased with age (P=0.005) and decreased significantly over time (P=0.0002). Using elapsed time and age as covariates, we demonstrated higher IgG levels in patients with a higher body mass index (BMI) (P= 0.0026) and lower IgG levels in immunocompromised patients (P=0.032). A high BMI was further found to delay and immunodeficiency to hasten significantly seronegativation, whereas no significant effect was observed with corticosteroids.
Conclusions: These data highlight the waning over time of IgG antibodies after severe or critical COVID-19. Age, BMI and immunosuppression also appear to influence the IgG kinetics, while short-term corticotherapy does not. Those data improve the understanding of SARS-CoV-2 serology while further research should determine the determinants of long-term seroprotection. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Keywords: COVID-19; IgG; SARS-CoV-2; corticosteroids; kinetics; serology.
. 2021 May 4.
doi: 10.1002/jmv.27059. Online ahead of print.
Determinants of IgG antibodies kinetics after severe and critical COVID-19
Julien De Greef[SUP] 1 2 [/SUP], Ana?s Scohy[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Francis Zech[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Aboubakar Frank[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Charles Pilette[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Ludovic Gerard[SUP] 2 5 [/SUP], Lucie Pothen[SUP] 1 2 [/SUP], Halil Yildiz[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Le?la Belkhir[SUP] 1 2 [/SUP], Jean-Cyr Yombi[SUP] 1 2 [/SUP]
Affiliations
- PMID: 33945634
- DOI: 10.1002/jmv.27059
Abstract
Background: The kinetics of IgG antibodies after COVID-19 remain poorly understood. We investigated factors influencing severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) IgG antibody levels and time to seronegativation during the follow-up of severe and critically ill patients.
Methods: We retrospectively reviewed serological evaluations drawn during the follow-up of severe or critical laboratory proven COVID-19 patients hospitalized at a large academic hospital. Specific IgG titers were measured using a chemiluminescent assay targeting anti-spike and anti-nucleocapsid protein IgG. The influence of time, demographic factors, clinical and paraclinical characteristics, and COVID-19 therapeutics on IgG levels was assessed through linear regression using a mixed-effect model, and delay until IgG negativation through a Weibull regression model.
Results: The cohort included 116 patients with a total of 154 IgG measurements drawn at a median of 79 days after diagnosis. IgG antibodies were increased with age (P=0.005) and decreased significantly over time (P=0.0002). Using elapsed time and age as covariates, we demonstrated higher IgG levels in patients with a higher body mass index (BMI) (P= 0.0026) and lower IgG levels in immunocompromised patients (P=0.032). A high BMI was further found to delay and immunodeficiency to hasten significantly seronegativation, whereas no significant effect was observed with corticosteroids.
Conclusions: These data highlight the waning over time of IgG antibodies after severe or critical COVID-19. Age, BMI and immunosuppression also appear to influence the IgG kinetics, while short-term corticotherapy does not. Those data improve the understanding of SARS-CoV-2 serology while further research should determine the determinants of long-term seroprotection. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Keywords: COVID-19; IgG; SARS-CoV-2; corticosteroids; kinetics; serology.