Ortega, NataliaRibes, MartaVidal, MartaRubio, RocíoAguilar, RuthWilliams, SarahBarrios, DianaAlonso, SelenaMitchell, Robert A.Jairoce, ChenjeraiCruz, AngelineJimenez, AlfonsSantano, RebecaMéndez, SusanaLamoglia, MontserratRosell, NeusLlupià, AnnaPuyol, LauraChi, JordiRodrigo Melero, NataliaMayor, AlfredoVilella, AnnaTrilla, AntoniCarolis, CarloIzquierdo, LuisGarcía-Basteiro, Alberto L.Moncunill, GemmaDobaño, Carlota2021-12-032021-12-032021Ortega N, Ribes M, Vidal M, Rubio R, Aguilar R, Williams S et al. Seven-month kinetics of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies and role of pre-existing antibodies to human coronaviruses. Nat Commun. 2021;12(1):4740. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-24979-92041-1723http://hdl.handle.net/10230/49138Unraveling the long-term kinetics of antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 and the individual characteristics influencing it, including the impact of pre-existing antibodies to human coronaviruses causing common cold (HCoVs), is essential to understand protective immunity to COVID-19 and devise effective surveillance strategies. IgM, IgA and IgG levels against six SARS-CoV-2 antigens and the nucleocapsid antigen of the four HCoV (229E, NL63, OC43 and HKU1) were quantified by Luminex, and antibody neutralization capacity was assessed by flow cytometry, in a cohort of health care workers followed up to 7 months (N = 578). Seroprevalence increases over time from 13.5% (month 0) and 15.6% (month 1) to 16.4% (month 6). Levels of antibodies, including those with neutralizing capacity, are stable over time, except IgG to nucleocapsid antigen and IgM levels that wane. After the peak response, anti-spike antibody levels increase from ~150 days post-symptom onset in all individuals (73% for IgG), in the absence of any evidence of re-exposure. IgG and IgA to HCoV are significantly higher in asymptomatic than symptomatic seropositive individuals. Thus, pre-existing cross-reactive HCoVs antibodies could have a protective effect against SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 disease.application/pdfeng© The Author(s) 2021. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.info:eu-repo/semantics/articlehttp://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-24979-9InfectionSARS-CoV-2Viral infectioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess