Detection of SARS-CoV-2 Nucleocapsid, Spike, and Neutralizing Antibodies in Vaccinated Japanese

Viruses. 2022 May 5;14(5):965. doi: 10.3390/v14050965.

Abstract

Serological detection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) nucleocapsid (N), spike (S), and neutralizing antibodies (Abs) is commonly undertaken to evaluate the efficacy of vaccination. However, the relative efficiency of different SARS-CoV-2 Ab detection systems has not been extensively investigated. Here, we evaluated serological test systems in vaccinated Japanese. SARS-CoV-2 N, S, and neutralizing Abs in sera of 375 healthy subjects a mean 253 days after vaccination were assessed. The sensitivity of Elecsys Anti-SARS-CoV-2 S (Roche S) and Anti-SARS-CoV-2 S IgG (Fujirebio S) was 100% and 98.9%, respectively, with a specificity of 100% for both. The sensitivity of Anti-SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing Ab (MBL Neu) was 2.7%, and the specificity was 100%. Fujirebio S correlated with Roche S (rho = 0.9182, p = 3.97 × 10-152). Fujirebio S (rho = 0.1295, p = 0.0121) and Roche S (rho = 0.1232, p = 0.0170) correlated weakly with MBL Neu. However, Roche S did correlate with MBL Neu in patients with COVID-19 (rho = 0.8299, p = 1.01 × 10-12) and in healthy subjects more recently after vaccination (mean of 90 days, rho = 0.5306, p = 0.0003). Thus, the Fujirebio S and Roche S results were very similar, but neither correlated with neutralizing antibody titers by MBL Neu at a later time after vaccination.

Keywords: SARS-CoV-2 antibody; neutralizing antibody; nucleocapsid; spike; vaccination.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Antibodies, Neutralizing* / blood
  • Antibodies, Viral / blood
  • COVID-19 Vaccines*
  • COVID-19* / immunology
  • COVID-19* / prevention & control
  • Coronavirus Nucleocapsid Proteins / immunology
  • Humans
  • Immunoglobulin G / blood
  • Japan
  • Phosphoproteins / immunology
  • SARS-CoV-2
  • Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus

Substances

  • Antibodies, Neutralizing
  • Antibodies, Viral
  • COVID-19 Vaccines
  • Coronavirus Nucleocapsid Proteins
  • Immunoglobulin G
  • Phosphoproteins
  • Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus
  • nucleocapsid phosphoprotein, SARS-CoV-2
  • spike protein, SARS-CoV-2

Grants and funding

This work was supported by Grants-in-Aid for Clinical Research from the National Hospital Organization, and research grants from the following pharmaceutical companies: Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., Abbott Japan Co., Ltd., Astellas Pharma Inc., Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Eisai Co., Ltd., Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation, Merck Sharp and Dohme Inc., Pfizer Japan Inc., Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, Teijin Pharma Limited. Anti-SARS-CoV-2 N IgG and S IgG assays were provided by Fujirebio.