Sex Disparities and Neutralizing-Antibody Durability to SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Convalescent Individuals
Alena J. Markmann, Natasa Giallourou, D. Ryan Bhowmik, Yixuan J. Hou, A. Martin Lerner, David R. Martinez, Lakshmanane Premkumar, Heather Root, David van Duin, Sonia Napravnik, Stephen Graham, Quique Guerra, Rajendra Raut, Christos J. Petropoulos, Terri Wrin, Caleb Cornaby, John L. Schmitz, JoAnn Kuruc, Susan R. Weiss, Yara Park, Ralph S. Baric, Aravinda M. de Silva, David M. Margolis, Luther A. Bartelt
Abstract
In this study, we found that neutralizing antibody responses in COVID-19-convalescent individuals vary in magnitude but are durable and correlate well with receptor binding domain (RBD) Ig binding antibody levels compared to other SARS-CoV-2 antigen responses. In our cohort, higher neutralizing antibody titers are independently and significantly associated with male sex compared to female sex. We also show for the first time that higher convalescent antibody titers in male donors are associated with increased age and symptom grade. Furthermore, cardiometabolic comorbidities are associated with higher antibody titers independently of sex. Here, we present an in-depth evaluation of serologic, demographic, and clinical correlates of functional antibody responses and durability to SARS-CoV-2 which supports the growing literature on sex discrepancies regarding COVID-19 disease morbidity and mortality, as well as functional neutralizing antibody responses to SARS-CoV-2.