Pre-COVID-19 Immunity to Common Cold Human Coronaviruses Induces a Recall-Type IgG Response to SARS-CoV-2 Antigens Without Cross-Neutralisation
Makoto Miyara, Mélissa Saichi, Delphine Sterlin, François Anna, Stéphane Marot, Alexis Mathian, Mo Atif, Paul Quentric, Audrey Mohr, Laetitia Claër, Christophe Parizot, Karim Dorgham, Hans Yssel, Jehane Fadlallah, Thibaut Chazal, Julien Haroche, Charles‐Édouard Luyt, Julien Mayaux, Alexandra Beurton, Neïla Benameur, David Boutolleau, Sonia Burrel, Sophia de Alba, Sasi Mudumba, Rick Hockett, Cary Gunn, Pierre Charneau, Vincent Cálvez, Anne‐Geneviève Marcelin, Alain Combes, Alexandre Demoule, Zahir Amoura, Guy Gorochov
Abstract
The capacity of pre-existing immunity to human common coronaviruses (HCoV) to cross-protect against de novo COVID-19is yet unknown. In this work, we studied the sera of 175 COVID-19 patients, 76 healthy donors and 3 intravenous immunoglobulins (IVIG) batches. We found that most COVID-19 patients developed anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies before IgM. Moreover, the capacity of their IgGs to react to beta-HCoV, was present in the early sera of most patients before the appearance of anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG. This implied that a recall-type antibody response was generated. In comparison, the patients that mounted an anti-SARS-COV2 IgM response, prior to IgG responses had lower titres of anti-beta-HCoV IgG antibodies. This indicated that pre-existing immunity to beta-HCoV was conducive to the generation of memory type responses to SARS-COV-2. Finally, we also found that pre-COVID-19-era sera and IVIG cross-reacted with SARS-CoV-2 antigens without neutralising SARS-CoV-2 infectivity in vitro . Put together, these results indicate that whilst pre-existing immunity to HCoV is responsible for recall-type IgG responses to SARS-CoV-2, it does not lead to cross-protection against COVID-19.