@article{44db0324ab3e4edda43057b9e9f3b89a,
title = "The Effect of Waning on Antibody Levels and Memory B Cell Recall following SARS-CoV-2 Infection or Vaccination",
abstract = "In order to longitudinally track SARS-CoV-2 antibody levels after vaccination or infection, we assessed anti-RBD antibody levels in over 1000 people and found no significant decrease in antibody levels during the first 14 months after infection in unvaccinated participants, however, a significant waning of antibody levels was observed following vaccination. Participants who were pre-immune to SARS-CoV-2 prior to vaccination seroconverted to higher antibody levels, which were maintained at higher levels than in previously infected, unvaccinated participants. Older participants exhibited lower level of antibodies after vaccination, but a higher level after infection than younger people. The rate of antibody waning was not affected by pre-immunity or age. Participants who received a third dose of an mRNA vaccine not only increased their antibody levels ~14-fold, but also had ~3 times more antibodies compared to when they received their primary vaccine series. PBMC-derived memory B cells from 13 participants who lost all circulating antibodies were differentiated into antibody secreting cells (ASCs). There was a significant recall of memory B cell ASCs in the absence of serum antibodies in 5–8 of the 10 vaccinated participants, but not in any of the 3 infected participants, suggesting a strong connection between antibody levels and the effectiveness of memory B cell recall.",
keywords = "COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, antibody decay, antibody secreting cells, infection, memory B cell recall, pre-immunity, vaccination, waning",
author = "David Forgacs and Vanessa Silva-Moraes and Sautto, {Giuseppe A.} and Hanley, {Hannah B.} and Gattiker, {Jasper L.} and Jefferson, {Alexandria M.} and KOLHE RAVINDRA and Ross, {Ted M.}",
note = "Funding Information: Funding: This research was funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), a component of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), Department of Health and Human Services, under contract 75N93019C00052, and the University of Georgia (USA) (UGA-001). In addition, T.M.R. is supported by the Georgia Research Alliance as an eminent scholar (GRA-001). Funding Information: Acknowledgments: The authors would like to thank all participants enrolled in the SPARTA study. The authors would also like to thank the SPARTA collection and processing teams in Athens and Augusta, GA, especially Brittany Baker, Charlotte Bolle, Debbie Bratt, Courtney Briggs, Jasmine Burris, Jordan Byrne, Patrick Fagan, Naveen Gokanapudi, Omar Hamwy, Tejal Hill, Lauren Howland, Hana Ji, Michael Kulik, Katie Mailloux, Patty Ray, Hua Shi, Cleopatria Smith, Terrie Waits, and Emma Whitesell. We would like to thank Deborah Keys for statistical consulting. We would also like to thank Cellular Technology Limited LLC, and in particular Greg A. Kirchenbaum for their technical support with the FluoroSpot experiments. We acknowledge the staff at the Animal Health Research Center at the University of Georgia for the upkeep and maintenance of the BSL-3 facilities. The recombinant proteins were produced by Spencer Pierce, Ethan Cooper, and Jeffrey Ecker, and the team in the Center for Vaccines and Immunology protein production core. We also thank the entire staff at the University of Georgia Clinical and Translational Research Unit (CTRU) for assistance in collecting samples for the SPARTA program. The CTRU was supported by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under award number UL1TR002378. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.",
year = "2022",
month = may,
doi = "10.3390/vaccines10050696",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "10",
journal = "Vaccines",
issn = "2076-393X",
publisher = "Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI)",
number = "5",
}
