Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, original antigenic sin, and antibody-dependent enhancement: ménage à trois.

Abstract

Shortly after its emergence in December 2019, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was declared as a pandemic by the World Health Organization. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is the seventh member of the Coronaviridae family of viruses that causes disease in humans. Despite the established role of molecular diagnostics, COVID-19 serodiagnosis remains a poorly discovered and enigmatic area. Although there are numerous commercial serological products available globally, there is a severe paucity of high-quality peer-reviewed literature on their true performance characteristics. That being said, publications including in-house developed serological tests started to shed light on the kinetics of the humoral response. In spite of intense focus of assessing the performance characteristics of the commercially-available kits, the main issue remains rather invisible, that is, lack of solid science behind COVID-19 serology its clinical usefulness thereof. This short review summarizes the key points as to why COVID-19 is not jest ready to fly. Despite having been mentioned as a testing option, COVID-19 serology has significant shortcomings that needs discussing. This short review is meant to shed light on one of those aspects.