The dynamic changes of serum IgM and IgG against SARS-CoV-2 in patients with COVID-19.
J Med Virol
; 93(2): 924-933, 2021 02.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1206804
ABSTRACT
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has become a worldwide pandemic since it emerged in December 2019. Previous studies have reported rapid antibody response to SARS-CoV-2 in the first 2 to 3 weeks after symptom onset. Here, we retrospectively described the dynamic changes of serum immunoglobulin M (IgM) and IgG specifically against SARS-CoV-2 in later weeks (mainly 4-10 weeks) in 97 hospitalized patients with COVID-19. We observed that serum IgM and IgG, especially in patients with moderate-to-high levels, declined significantly between week 4 to 10 after illness onset. Notably, IgG levels in high percentage of patients (77.5%, 31 of 40) rapidly declined by half, from 212.5 (range, 163.7-420.3) to 96.3 (range, 75.0-133.4) AU/mL, within 1 to 2 weeks in the second month and then sustained at around 100 AU/mL until discharge from hospital. Significant reduction of IgM was also observed as SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid turned negative (P = .002). In the recovery stage, serum IgG declined significantly (early vs late recovery stage, n = 16, P = .003) with a median reduction of 50.0% (range, 3.7%-77.0%). Our results suggested that the decline of IgM may be an indicator of virus clearance and recovered patients may have a robust immunity against reinfection within at least 3 months after illness onset. Yet, the rapid reduction of IgG by half rises serious concerns on the robustness and sustainability of the humoral immune response in the period after discharge, which is crucial for immunity strategy and developing a vaccine.
Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Immunoglobulin G
/
Immunoglobulin M
/
COVID-19
/
Antibodies, Viral
Type of study:
Diagnostic study
/
Observational study
Topics:
Long Covid
/
Vaccines
Limits:
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Country/Region as subject:
Asia
Language:
English
Journal:
J Med Virol
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Jmv.26353
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