Longitudinal Survey of Humoral and Cellular Response to SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Children

Overview

Journal Microbiol Res

Specialties Biotechnology
Environmental Health
Microbiology

Date 2022 Aug 16

PMID 35973364

Authors

Alba Ruedas-Lopez

Arantxa Berzosa-Sanchez

Marta Illan-Ramos

Ignacio Callejas-Caballero

Sara Guillen-Martin

Andres Bodas-Pinedo

Santiago Rueda-Esteban

Olga Perez-Rodriguez

Raquel Vecino-Lopez

Diego Lopez-de Lara

Iciar Rodriguez-Avial Infante

Paloma Merino-Amador

Rafael Sanchez-Del Hoyo

Jose T Ramos-Amador

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: Data regarding humoral and cellular response against SARS-CoV-2 in children are scarce. We analysed seroconversion rate, decrease of anti-RBD IgG antibodies over time and T-cell response in paediatric patients who suffered COVID-19.

Methods: Longitudinal study of paediatric patients COVID-19 diagnosed by positive molecular assay in nasopharyngeal swabs. Blood samples were drawn 1-2 months and 6-7 months after acute infection. Anti-RBD IgG were determined using the Alinity® SARS-CoV-2 IgG II Quant assay (Abbott). Cellular immune response was analysed by T-SPOT® SARS-CoV-2 assay kit (Oxford Immunotec Ltd.).

Results: 27/39 (69,2%) patients seroconverted. Despite a significant decrease in antibody levels over time (p < 0,01), no children seroreverted between first and second visits. Only 6/16 (37,2%) children under 6 years-old were seropositive compared to 21/23 (91,3%) over 6 years-old (p < 0,01). Highest antibody levels were found in seropositive younger children (p = 0,036). Thirteen (33,3%) children showed T-cell response. Among participants showing humoral response, no cellular response was detected in 14 (51,9%).

Conclusions: Anti-RBD IgG antibodies persistence at 6-7-months after SARS-CoV-2 infection was observed. A different IgG response was found depending on age. As measured by T-SPOT, most patients did not display cellular response 6-7 months after infection.

Citing Articles

Longitudinal determination of seroprevalence and immune response to SARS-CoV-2 in a population of food and retail workers through decentralized testing and transformation of ELISA datasets.

Djaileb A, Parker M, Lavallee E, Stuible M, Durocher Y, Theriault M PLoS One. 2024; 19(12):e0314499.

PMID: 39680559 PMC: 11649073. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0314499.

Seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection in pediatric patients in a tertiary care hospital setting.

Pattanakitsakul P, Pongpatipat C, Setthaudom C, Kunakorn M, Sahakijpicharn T, Visudtibhan A PLoS One. 2024; 19(9):e0310860.

PMID: 39316628 PMC: 11421809. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0310860.

SARS-CoV-2 seroconversion in children attending daycare versus adults in Germany between October 2020 and June 2021.

Kubisch U, Sandoni A, Wurm J, Schienkiewitz A, Schlaud M, Kuttig T Commun Med (Lond). 2023; 3(1):124.

PMID: 37714948 PMC: 10504330. DOI: 10.1038/s43856-023-00352-3.

Acute and long-term immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 infection in unvaccinated children and young adults with inborn errors of immunity.

Garcia-Garcia A, Fortuny C, Fumado V, Jordan I, Ruiz-Lopez L, Gonzalez-Navarro E Front Immunol. 2023; 14:1084630.

PMID: 36742319 PMC: 9896004. DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1084630.

Younger Children Develop Higher Effector Antibody Responses to SARS-CoV-2 Infection.

Tomasi L, Thiriard A, Heyndrickx L, Georges D, van den Wijngaert S, Olislagers V Open Forum Infect Dis. 2022; 9(11):ofac554.

PMID: 36467295 PMC: 9709628. DOI: 10.1093/ofid/ofac554.

References

Yang H, Costa V, Racine-Brzostek S, Acker K, Yee J, Chen Z . Association of Age With SARS-CoV-2 Antibody Response. JAMA Netw Open. 2021; 4(3):e214302. PMC: 7985726. DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.4302. View

Davies P, Evans C, Kanthimathinathan H, Lillie J, Brierley J, Waters G . Intensive care admissions of children with paediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome temporally associated with SARS-CoV-2 (PIMS-TS) in the UK: a multicentre observational study. Lancet Child Adolesc Health. 2020; 4(9):669-677. PMC: 7347350. DOI: 10.1016/S2352-4642(20)30215-7. View

Dong Y, Mo X, Hu Y, Qi X, Jiang F, Jiang Z . Epidemiology of COVID-19 Among Children in China. Pediatrics. 2020; 145(6). DOI: 10.1542/peds.2020-0702. View

Suhandynata R, Hoffman M, Huang D, Tran J, Kelner M, Reed S . Commercial Serology Assays Predict Neutralization Activity against SARS-CoV-2. Clin Chem. 2020; 67(2):404-414. PMC: 7665417. DOI: 10.1093/clinchem/hvaa262. View

Neumann F, Rose R, Rompke J, Grobe O, Lorentz T, Fickenscher H . Development of SARS-CoV-2 Specific IgG and Virus-Neutralizing Antibodies after Infection with Variants of Concern or Vaccination. Vaccines (Basel). 2021; 9(7). PMC: 8310178. DOI: 10.3390/vaccines9070700. View

Remppis J, Ganzenmueller T, Kohns Vasconcelos M, Heinzel O, Handgretinger R, Renk H . A case series of children and young people admitted to a tertiary care hospital in Germany with COVID-19. BMC Infect Dis. 2021; 21(1):133. PMC: 7848863. DOI: 10.1186/s12879-021-05791-8. View

Dan J, Mateus J, Kato Y, Hastie K, Yu E, Faliti C . Immunological memory to SARS-CoV-2 assessed for up to 8 months after infection. Science. 2021; 371(6529). PMC: 7919858. DOI: 10.1126/science.abf4063. View

Shekerdemian L, Mahmood N, Wolfe K, Riggs B, Ross C, McKiernan C . Characteristics and Outcomes of Children With Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Infection Admitted to US and Canadian Pediatric Intensive Care Units. JAMA Pediatr. 2020; 174(9):868-873. PMC: 7489842. DOI: 10.1001/jamapediatrics.2020.1948. View

Ni L, Ye F, Cheng M, Feng Y, Deng Y, Zhao H . Detection of SARS-CoV-2-Specific Humoral and Cellular Immunity in COVID-19 Convalescent Individuals. Immunity. 2020; 52(6):971-977.e3. PMC: 7196424. DOI: 10.1016/j.immuni.2020.04.023. View

10.

Sauer K, Harris T . An Effective COVID-19 Vaccine Needs to Engage T Cells. Front Immunol. 2020; 11:581807. PMC: 7549399. DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2020.581807. View

11.

Moraleda C, Serna-Pascual M, Soriano-Arandes A, Simo S, Epalza C, Santos M . Multi-inflammatory Syndrome in Children Related to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in Spain. Clin Infect Dis. 2020; 72(9):e397-e401. PMC: 7454331. DOI: 10.1093/cid/ciaa1042. View

12.

Bert N, Tan A, Kunasegaran K, Tham C, Hafezi M, Chia A . SARS-CoV-2-specific T cell immunity in cases of COVID-19 and SARS, and uninfected controls. Nature. 2020; 584(7821):457-462. DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-2550-z. View

13.

Feldstein L, Rose E, Horwitz S, Collins J, Newhams M, Son M . Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in U.S. Children and Adolescents. N Engl J Med. 2020; 383(4):334-346. PMC: 7346765. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa2021680. View

14.

Muecksch F, Wise H, Batchelor B, Squires M, Semple E, Richardson C . Longitudinal Serological Analysis and Neutralizing Antibody Levels in Coronavirus Disease 2019 Convalescent Patients. J Infect Dis. 2020; 223(3):389-398. PMC: 7665595. DOI: 10.1093/infdis/jiaa659. View

15.

Breuer A, Raphael A, Stern H, Odeh M, Fiszlinski J, Algur N . SARS-CoV-2 antibodies started to decline just four months after COVID-19 infection in a paediatric population. Acta Paediatr. 2021; 110(11):3054-3062. PMC: 8444680. DOI: 10.1111/apa.16031. View

16.

Weisberg S, Connors T, Zhu Y, Baldwin M, Lin W, Wontakal S . Distinct antibody responses to SARS-CoV-2 in children and adults across the COVID-19 clinical spectrum. Nat Immunol. 2020; 22(1):25-31. PMC: 8136619. DOI: 10.1038/s41590-020-00826-9. View

17.

Bonfante F, Costenaro P, Cantarutti A, Di Chiara C, Bortolami A, Petrara M . Mild SARS-CoV-2 Infections and Neutralizing Antibody Titers. Pediatrics. 2021; 148(3). DOI: 10.1542/peds.2021-052173. View

18.

Mendez-Echevarria A, Sainz T, Falces-Romero I, De Felipe B, Escolano L, Alcolea S . Long-Term Persistence of Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Antibodies in a Pediatric Population. Pathogens. 2021; 10(6). PMC: 8226775. DOI: 10.3390/pathogens10060700. View

19.

Zuo J, Dowell A, Pearce H, Verma K, Long H, Begum J . Robust SARS-CoV-2-specific T cell immunity is maintained at 6 months following primary infection. Nat Immunol. 2021; 22(5):620-626. PMC: 7610739. DOI: 10.1038/s41590-021-00902-8. View

20.

Lo Sasso B, Giglio R, Vidali M, Scazzone C, Bivona G, Gambino C . Evaluation of Anti-SARS-Cov-2 S-RBD IgG Antibodies after COVID-19 mRNA BNT162b2 Vaccine. Diagnostics (Basel). 2021; 11(7). PMC: 8306884. DOI: 10.3390/diagnostics11071135. View