Detection of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in response to BNT162b2, mRNA-1237 mRNA vaccine by commercial antibody tests

  

View ORCID ProfileJamil N Kanji, Ashley Bailey, Jayne Fenton, Sean H. Ling, Rafael Rivera, Sabrina Plitt, Wendy I Sligl, Sean C Taylor, LeeANn Turnbull, Graham Tipples, Carmen L Charlton

doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.03.30.21254604

This article is a preprint and has not been certified by peer review [what does this mean?]. It reports new medical research that has yet to be evaluated and so should not be used to guide clinical practice.

PDF: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.03.30.21254604v1.full.pdf

Abstract

PURPOSE With rapid approval of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines, the ability of clinical laboratories to detect vaccine-induced antibodies with available high-throughput commercial assays is unknown. We aimed to determine if commercial serology assays can detect vaccine-induced antibodies (VIAs) and understand the vaccination response. METHODS This cohort study recruited healthcare workers and residents of long-term care facilities (receiving the BNT162b2 and mRNA-1273 products, respectively) who underwent serum collection pre-vaccination (BNT162b2 group), 2-weeks post vaccination (both groups), and pre-2nd dose (both groups). Sera were tested for the presence of SARS-CoV-2 IgG using four commercial assays (Abbott Architect SARS-CoV-2 IgG, Abbott Architect SARS-CoV-2 IgG II Quant, DiaSorin Liaison Trimeric S IgG, and GenScript cPASS) to detect VIAs. Secondary outcomes included description of post-vaccination antibody response and correlation with neutralising titers. RESULTS 225 participants (177 receiving BNT162b2 and 48 receiving mRNA-1273) were included (median age 41 years,; 66-78% female). Nucleocapsid IgG was found in 4.1% and 21.9% of the BNT162b2 (baseline) and mRNA-1273 (2-weeks post first dose). All anti-spike assays detected antibodies post-vaccination, with an average increase of 87.2% (range 73.8-94.3%; BNT162b2), and 25.2% (range 23.8-26.7%; mRNA-1273) between the first and last sampling time points (all p<0.05). Neutralising antibodies were detected at all post-vaccine timepoints for both vaccine arms, with increasing titers over time (all p<0.05). CONCLUSION Anti-spike vaccine-induced SARS-CoV-2 IgG are detectable by commercially available high-throughput assays and increases over time. Prior to second dose of vaccination, neutralising antibodies are detectable in 73-89% of individuals, suggesting the majority of individuals would have some degree of protection from subsequent infection.

Competing Interest Statement

Dr. Sean Taylor is an employee of GenScript USA. He assisted in providing interpretation of the GenScript assay used in this study. He had no role in the design of the study or the formal data analysis, but did provide suggestions for the final draft which were incorporated after review by the other authors. None of the other authors had conflicts to declare with respect to this manuscript.

Funding Statement

This work did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors, however testing kits were provided in-kind by all manufactures.

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.03.30.21254604v1