TY - JOUR

T1 - Comparison of two antibody screening systems for SARS-CoV-2 antibody detection in recovered and vaccinated subjects

T2 - test performance and possible indicators for immunity

AU - Jonczyk, Rebecca

AU - Stanislawski, Nils

AU - Seiler, Lisa K

AU - Ahani, Somayeh

AU - Bueltemeier, Arne

AU - Stahl, Frank

AU - Beutel, Sascha

AU - Blume, Holger

AU - Hauß, Corinna

AU - Melk, Anette

AU - Paulsen, Mira

AU - Stiesch, Meike

AU - Winkel, Andreas

AU - Pott, Philipp-Cornelius

AU - Saletti, Giulietta

AU - González-Hernández, Mariana

AU - Kaiser, Franziska Karola

AU - Rimmelzwaan, Guus F

AU - Osterhaus, Albert D M E

AU - Blume, Cornelia

N1 - Funding Information: The work at the Research Center for Emerging Infections and Zooneses was financially supported by the Ministry of Research and Culture of Lower Saxony (14-76103-184 CORONA-15/20) as well as COFONI and MWK for A.O. and M.G.H. G.S., and G.F.R. were further supported by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in the framework of the Alexander von Humboldt Professorship endowed by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. In addition, F.K.K. was funded by the DFG (German Research Foundation) - 398066876/GRK 2485/1 (VIPER); A.D.M.E.O. and G.F.R. were funded by RESIST cluster of excellence (EXC 2155, Project number 390874280), and the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program ISOLDA (Grant n. 848166 ). Funding Information: The MCA study (cohort 1) was financed by state funds from the Ministry of Economics of Lower Saxony . A.M., M.S., A.W., M.P. and P.-C. P. were additionally funded by the Ministry of Social Affairs, Health and Equality of Lower Saxony (cohort 2 study). The respective sponsor did not exert any influence or make any recommendation as to which groups of people should be tested. The offer of testing was requested by various institutions or groups of persons themselves.

PY - 2022/12

Y1 - 2022/12

N2 - BACKGROUND: Detection of seroconversion after SARS-CoV-2-infection or vaccination is relevant to discover subclinical cases and recognize patients with a possible immunity.OBJECTIVES: Test performance, effects of age, time-point of seroconversion and immune status regarding neutralizing antibodies (NAbs) and T-cell-reactivity were investigated.STUDY DESIGN: Two antibody assays (Viramed-Test for S/N-specific IgG, Roche-Test for N-specific IgA, -M, -G) were evaluated with classified samples. In total, 381 subjects aged 6-99 years, who had either recovered from the disease or had been vaccinated, were screened for SARS-CoV-2-specific antibodies. This screening was part of an open observational study with working adults. Additionally, children and adults were analyzed in a longitudinal COVID-19 study in schools. For immunity evaluation, virus neutralization tests and ELISpot tests were performed in a subgroup of subjects.RESULTS: Viramed revealed a slightly lower test performance than Roche, but test quality was equally well in samples from very young or very old donors. The time-point of seroconversion after the respective immunization detected by the two tests was not significantly different. N-specific antibodies, detected with Roche, highly correlated with NAbs in recovered subjects, whereas a positive Viramed-Test result was paralleled by a positive ELISpot result.CONCLUSION: Viramed-Test was not as sensitive as Roche-Test, but highly specific and beneficial to distinguish between recovered and vaccinated status. For both tests correlations with humoral and cellular immunity were found. Of note, the expected early detection of IgA and IgM by the Roche-Test did not prove to be an advantage over IgG testing by Viramed.

AB - BACKGROUND: Detection of seroconversion after SARS-CoV-2-infection or vaccination is relevant to discover subclinical cases and recognize patients with a possible immunity.OBJECTIVES: Test performance, effects of age, time-point of seroconversion and immune status regarding neutralizing antibodies (NAbs) and T-cell-reactivity were investigated.STUDY DESIGN: Two antibody assays (Viramed-Test for S/N-specific IgG, Roche-Test for N-specific IgA, -M, -G) were evaluated with classified samples. In total, 381 subjects aged 6-99 years, who had either recovered from the disease or had been vaccinated, were screened for SARS-CoV-2-specific antibodies. This screening was part of an open observational study with working adults. Additionally, children and adults were analyzed in a longitudinal COVID-19 study in schools. For immunity evaluation, virus neutralization tests and ELISpot tests were performed in a subgroup of subjects.RESULTS: Viramed revealed a slightly lower test performance than Roche, but test quality was equally well in samples from very young or very old donors. The time-point of seroconversion after the respective immunization detected by the two tests was not significantly different. N-specific antibodies, detected with Roche, highly correlated with NAbs in recovered subjects, whereas a positive Viramed-Test result was paralleled by a positive ELISpot result.CONCLUSION: Viramed-Test was not as sensitive as Roche-Test, but highly specific and beneficial to distinguish between recovered and vaccinated status. For both tests correlations with humoral and cellular immunity were found. Of note, the expected early detection of IgA and IgM by the Roche-Test did not prove to be an advantage over IgG testing by Viramed.

KW - Neutralizing antibodies

KW - SARS-CoV-2-specific antibodies

KW - Seroconversion

KW - T-cell-reactivity

KW - Test performance

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85140289015&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.jcv.2022.105322

DO - 10.1016/j.jcv.2022.105322

M3 - Article

C2 - 36279696

VL - 157

JO - Journal of Clinical Virology

JF - Journal of Clinical Virology

SN - 1386-6532

M1 - 105322

ER -