A Newcastle disease virus expressing a stabilized spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 induces protective immune responses

Journal article

Despite multiple research efforts to characterize coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in humans, there is no clear data on the specific role of mucosal immunity on COVID-19 disease. Here, we longitudinally profile the antibody response against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and seasonal HCoV-OC43 S proteins in serum and nasopharyngeal swabs from COVID-19 patients. Results showed that specific antibody responses against SARS-CoV-2 and HCoV-OC43 S proteins can be detected in the upper respiratory tract. We found that COVID-19 patients mounted a robust mucosal antibody response against SARS-CoV-2 S with specific secretory immunoglobulin A (sIgA), IgA, IgG, and IgM antibody subtypes detected in the nasal swabs. Additionally, COVID-19 patients showed IgG, IgA, and sIgA responses against HCoV-OC43 S in the local mucosa, whereas no specific IgM was detected. Interestingly, mucosal antibody titers against SARS-CoV-2 peaked at day 7, whereas HCoV-OC43 titers peaked earlier at day 3 post -recruitment, suggesting an immune memory recall to conserved epitopes of beta-HCoVs in the upper respiratory tract

Authors: Sun, W; Liu, Y; Amanat, F; González-Domínguez, I; McCroskery, S

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Nature Research
• Journal: Nature Communications
• Volume: 12
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 6197-6197
• Article number: 6197
• Publication date: 2021-10-27
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-26499-y
• EISSN: 2041-1723
• ISSN: 2041-1723
• Language: English
• Keywords: Sars virus; Computer science; Disease; Medicine; 2019-20 coronavirus outbreak; Newcastle disease; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2); Biology; Virology; Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19); Spike (software development); Virus; Immune system; Immunology; Outbreak; Spike Protein; Infectious disease (medical specialty)