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  • Immunity to SARS-CoV-2 up t...
    Marcotte, Harold; Piralla, Antonio; Zuo, Fanglei; Du, Likun; Cassaniti, Irene; Wan, Hui; Kumagai-Braesh, Makiko; Andréll, Juni; Percivalle, Elena; Sammartino, Josè Camilla; Wang, Yating; Vlachiotis, Stelios; Attevall, Janine; Bergami, Federica; Ferrari, Alessandro; Colaneri, Marta; Vecchia, Marco; Sambo, Margherita; Zuccaro, Valentina; Asperges, Erika; Bruno, Raffaele; Oggionni, Tiberio; Meloni, Federica; Abolhassani, Hassan; Bertoglio, Federico; Schubert, Maren; Calzolai, Luigi; Varani, Luca; Hust, Michael; Xue, Yintong; Hammarström, Lennart; Baldanti, Fausto; Pan-Hammarström, Qiang

    iScience, 02/2022, Volume: 25, Issue: 2
    Journal Article

    Information concerning the longevity of immunity to SARS-CoV-2 following natural infection may have considerable implications for durability of immunity induced by vaccines. Here, we monitored the SARS-CoV-2 specific immune response in COVID-19 patients followed up to 15 months after symptoms onset. Following a peak at day 15–28 postinfection, the IgG antibody response and plasma neutralizing titers gradually decreased over time but stabilized after 6 months. Compared to G614, plasma neutralizing titers were more than 8-fold lower against variants Beta, Gamma, and Delta. SARS-CoV-2-specific memory B and T cells persisted in the majority of patients up to 15 months although a significant decrease in specific T cells, but not B cells, was observed between 6 and 15 months. Antiviral specific immunity, especially memory B cells in COVID-19 convalescent patients, is long-lasting, but some variants of concern may at least partially escape the neutralizing activity of plasma antibodies. Display omitted •Plasma neutralizing antibodies persist in the majority of patients up to 15 months•Neutralizing activity is lower against variants of concern Delta, Beta, and Gamma•Specific memory B and T cells were present in 95% of patients up to 15 months•Specific T cells, but not B cells, were decreased between 6 and 15 months Immunology; Immune response; Virology