1. Spike-based COVID-19 immunization increases antibodies to nucleocapsid antigen
- Author
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Alberto L. García-Basteiro, Josep Vidal-Alaball, Gemma Moncunill, Ruth Aguilar, Anna Ramirez-Morros, Anna Ruiz-Comellas, Rocío Rubio, Marta Vidal, Luis Izquierdo, Alfons Jiménez, Carlota Dobaño, and Selena Alonso
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COVID-19 Vaccines ,Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) ,nucleocapsid ,Antibodies, Viral ,Article ,Antigen ,Pfizer ,avidity ,vaccine ,antibody ,Physiology (medical) ,Humans ,Medicine ,breakthrough ,Multiplex ,Avidity ,Longitudinal Studies ,biology ,SARS-CoV-2 ,business.industry ,Immunogenicity ,Biochemistry (medical) ,Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health ,COVID-19 ,spike ,General Medicine ,Virology ,Immunoglobulin A ,Vaccination ,Immunization ,Moderna ,Immunoglobulin G ,Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus ,biology.protein ,Antibody ,business - Abstract
Antibodies to the nucleocapsid (N) antigen are suggested to be used to monitor infections after COVID-19 vaccination, as first generation subunit vaccines are based on the spike (S) protein. We used multiplex immunoassays to simultaneously measure antibody responses to different fragments of the SARS-CoV-2 S and N antigens for evaluating the immunogenicity of the mRNA-1273 (Spykevax) and the BNT162b2 (Comirnaty) vaccines in 445 health care workers. We report a >4-fold increase post-vaccination of IgG levels to the full length (N FL) and C-terminus of N (N CT) in 5.2% and 18.0% of individuals, respectively, and of IgA in 3.6% (N FL) and 9.0% (N CT) of them. The increase in IgG levels and avidity was more pronounced after Spykevax than Comirnaty vaccination (36.2% vs 13.1% for N CT, and 10.6% vs 3.7% for N FL). Data suggest the induction of cross-reactive antibodies against the N CT region after administering these S-based vaccines, and this should be taken into account when using N seropositivity to detect breakthroughs.
- Published
- 2022
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