Abstract
Measuring virus-specific antibody responses to emerging pathogens is a well-established and highly useful tool to diagnose such infections, understand interactions between the immune system and pathogens, and provide potential clues for the development of vaccines or therapeutic agents against such pathogens. Since the beginning of 2020, the discovery of SARS-CoV-2 as the emerging virus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic has provided new insight into the complexity of antibody responses to this dangerous virus. The current review aims to sort out diverse and sometimes seemingly confusing findings to put together a cohesive understanding on the profile of antibody responses elicited in COVID-19 patients.
Highlights
The human immune system mounts potent immune responses when exposed to an emerging pathogen
This review will sort out diverse and sometimes seemingly confusing findings to put together a cohesive understanding on the profile of antibody responses elicited in COVID-19 patients
Ling Chen and his group investigated both IgM and IgG forms of antibody responses against N and S proteins after the symptom onset among intensive care unit (ICU) and non-ICU patients[3]. Both N and Sspecific IgM and IgG responses increased along with disease course in non-ICU patients, detectable among 75% of patients in the first week and reaching 94.7% and 100% respectively in the second and third weeks after symptom onset, while dynamic patterns for SARS-CoV-2 specific antibody responses were more "chaotic", or not having a clear pattern, in ICU patients. These results further demonstrate that the combined detection of N and S- specific IgM and IgG antibodies can increase the positive rate of COVID-19 diagnosis, so such an approach may be useful for early detection of SARSCoV-2 infections
Summary
The human immune system mounts potent immune responses when exposed to an emerging pathogen. An early report by Zhou et al established a milestone in detecting SARS-CoV-2 specific antibody responses in COVID-19 patients[2]. This first report only included samples from 16 patients, but it is important to show that serology testing can greatly improve positive detection of SARS-CoV-2 infections, and should be used in both clinical practice and epidemiological investigations.
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