Neutralizing Antibody Production in Asymptomatic and Mild COVID-19 Patients, in Comparison with Pneumonic COVID-19 Patients

Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, 81 Irwon-ro, Gangnam-gu, Seoul 06351, Korea

Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, Kangbuk Samsung Hospital, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul 03181, Korea

College of Medicine and Medical Research Institute, Chungbuk National University, 1 Chungdae-ro, Seowon-Gu, Cheongju 28644, Korea

⁴

Asia Pacific Foundation for Infectious Diseases (APFID), Seoul 06351, Korea

⁵

Health Promotion Center, Samsung Changwon Hospital, Changwon 51353, Korea

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Health Promotion Center, Samsung Medical Center, Seoul 06351, Korea

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Total Healthcare Center, Kanguk Samsung Hospital, Seoul 03181, Korea

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Center for Cohort Studies, Kangbuk Samsung Hospital, Seoul 03181, Korea

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Division of Infectious Diseases and Immunodeficiency, Department of Pediatrics, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University, School of Medicine, Seoul 06351, Korea

¹⁰

Department of Laboratory Medicine and Genetics, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, 81 Irwon-ro, Gangnam-gu, Seoul 06531, Korea

Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.

^†

These first authors contributed equally to this article.

^‡

These corresponding authors contributed equally to this article.

J. Clin. Med. 2020, 9(7), 2268; https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm9072268

Received: 17 June 2020 / Revised: 13 July 2020 / Accepted: 15 July 2020 / Published: 17 July 2020

(This article belongs to the Special Issue COVID-19: From Pathophysiology to Clinical Practice)

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Abstract

Objectives: To investigate antibody production in asymptomatic and mild COVID-19 patients. Methods: Sera from asymptomatic to severe COVID-19 patients were collected. Microneutralization (MN), fluorescence immunoassay (FIA), and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) were performed. Results: A total of 70 laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 patients were evaluated, including 15 asymptomatic/anosmia, 49 mild symptomatic, and 6 pneumonia patients. The production of the neutralizing antibody was observed in 100% of pneumonia, 93.9% of mild symptomatic, and 80.0% of asymptomatic/anosmia groups. All the patients in the pneumonia group showed high MN titer (≥1:80), while 36.7% of mild symptomatic and 20.0% of asymptomatic/anosmia groups showed high titer (p < 0.001). Anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies could be more sensitively detected by FIA IgG (98.8%) and ELISA (97.6%) in overall. For the FIA IgG test, all patients in the pneumonia group exhibited a high COI value (≥15.0), while 89.8% of mild symptomatic and 73.3% of asymptomatic/anosmia groups showed a high value (p = 0.049). For the ELISA test, all patients in the pneumonia group showed a high optical density (OD) ratio (≥3.0), while 65.3% of mild symptomatic and 53.3% of asymptomatic/anosmia groups showed a high ratio (p = 0.006). Conclusions: Most asymptomatic and mild COVID-19 patients produced the neutralizing antibody, although the titers were lower than pneumonia patients. ELISA and FIA sensitively detected anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. View Full-Text

Keywords: asymptomatic; mild; COVID-19; serology; neutralizing antibody

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MDPI and ACS Style

Ko, J.-H.; Joo, E.-J.; Park, S.-J.; Baek, J.Y.; Kim, W.D.; Jee, J.; Kim, C.J.; Jeong, C.; Kim, Y.-J.; Shon, H.J.; Kang, E.-S.; Choi, Y.K.; Peck, K.R. Neutralizing Antibody Production in Asymptomatic and Mild COVID-19 Patients, in Comparison with Pneumonic COVID-19 Patients. J. Clin. Med. 2020, 9, 2268. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm9072268

AMA Style

Ko J-H, Joo E-J, Park S-J, Baek JY, Kim WD, Jee J, Kim CJ, Jeong C, Kim Y-J, Shon HJ, Kang E-S, Choi YK, Peck KR. Neutralizing Antibody Production in Asymptomatic and Mild COVID-19 Patients, in Comparison with Pneumonic COVID-19 Patients. Journal of Clinical Medicine. 2020; 9(7):2268. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm9072268

Chicago/Turabian Style

Ko, Jae-Hoon, Eun-Jeong Joo, Su-Jin Park, Jin Y. Baek, Won D. Kim, Jaehwan Jee, Chul J. Kim, Chul Jeong, Yae-Jean Kim, Hye J. Shon, Eun-Suk Kang, Young K. Choi, and Kyong R. Peck 2020. "Neutralizing Antibody Production in Asymptomatic and Mild COVID-19 Patients, in Comparison with Pneumonic COVID-19 Patients" Journal of Clinical Medicine 9, no. 7: 2268. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm9072268

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Neutralizing Antibody Production in Asymptomatic and Mild COVID-19 Patients, in Comparison with Pneumonic COVID-19 Patients

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