TY - JOUR
T1 - Dynamics of spike-and nucleocapsid specific immunity during long-term follow-up and vaccination of SARS-CoV-2 convalescents
AU - Koerber, Nina
AU - Priller, Alina
AU - Yazici, Sarah
AU - Bauer, Tanja
AU - Cheng, Cho Chin
AU - Mijočević, Hrvoje
AU - Wintersteller, Hannah
AU - Jeske, Samuel
AU - Vogel, Emanuel
AU - Feuerherd, Martin
AU - Tinnefeld, Kathrin
AU - Winter, Christof
AU - Ruland, Jürgen
AU - Gerhard, Markus
AU - Haller, Bernhard
AU - Christa, Catharina
AU - Zelger, Otto
AU - Roggendorf, Hedwig
AU - Halle, Martin
AU - Erber, Johanna
AU - Lingor, Paul
AU - Keppler, Oliver
AU - Zehn, Dietmar
AU - Protzer, Ulrike
AU - Knolle, Percy A.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, The Author(s).
PY - 2022/12
Y1 - 2022/12
N2 - Anti-viral immunity continuously declines over time after SARS-CoV-2 infection. Here, we characterize the dynamics of anti-viral immunity during long-term follow-up and after BNT162b2 mRNA-vaccination in convalescents after asymptomatic or mild SARS-CoV-2 infection. Virus-specific and virus-neutralizing antibody titers rapidly declined in convalescents over 9 months after infection, whereas virus-specific cytokine-producing polyfunctional T cells persisted, among which IL-2-producing T cells correlated with virus-neutralizing antibody titers. Among convalescents, 5% of individuals failed to mount long-lasting immunity after infection and showed a delayed response to vaccination compared to 1% of naïve vaccinees, but successfully responded to prime/boost vaccination. During the follow-up period, 8% of convalescents showed a selective increase in virus-neutralizing antibody titers without accompanying increased frequencies of circulating SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells. The same convalescents, however, responded to vaccination with simultaneous increase in antibody and T cell immunity revealing the strength of mRNA-vaccination to increase virus-specific immunity in convalescents.
AB - Anti-viral immunity continuously declines over time after SARS-CoV-2 infection. Here, we characterize the dynamics of anti-viral immunity during long-term follow-up and after BNT162b2 mRNA-vaccination in convalescents after asymptomatic or mild SARS-CoV-2 infection. Virus-specific and virus-neutralizing antibody titers rapidly declined in convalescents over 9 months after infection, whereas virus-specific cytokine-producing polyfunctional T cells persisted, among which IL-2-producing T cells correlated with virus-neutralizing antibody titers. Among convalescents, 5% of individuals failed to mount long-lasting immunity after infection and showed a delayed response to vaccination compared to 1% of naïve vaccinees, but successfully responded to prime/boost vaccination. During the follow-up period, 8% of convalescents showed a selective increase in virus-neutralizing antibody titers without accompanying increased frequencies of circulating SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells. The same convalescents, however, responded to vaccination with simultaneous increase in antibody and T cell immunity revealing the strength of mRNA-vaccination to increase virus-specific immunity in convalescents.
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85122855985
U2 - 10.1038/s41467-021-27649-y
DO - 10.1038/s41467-021-27649-y
M3 - Article
C2 - 35013191
AN - SCOPUS:85122855985
SN - 2041-1723
VL - 13
JO - Nature Communications
JF - Nature Communications
IS - 1
M1 - 153
ER -