Anti-membrane Antibodies Persist at Least One Year and Discriminate Between Past Coronavirus Disease 2019 Infection and Vaccination
Maya F. Amjadi, Ryan R. Adyniec, Srishti Gupta, S. Janna Bashar, Aisha M. Mergaert, Katarina M. Braun, Gage K. Moreno, David H. O’Connor, Thomas C. Friedrich, Nasia Safdar, Sara S. McCoy, Miriam A. Shelef
Abstract
BACKGROUND: The consequences of past coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection for personal and population health are emerging, but accurately identifying distant infection is a challenge. Anti-spike antibodies rise after both vaccination and infection and anti-nucleocapsid antibodies rapidly decline. METHODS: We evaluated anti-membrane antibodies in COVID-19 naive, vaccinated, and convalescent subjects to determine if they persist and accurately detect distant infection. RESULTS: We found that anti-membrane antibodies persist for at least 1 year and are a sensitive and specific marker of past COVID-19 infection. CONCLUSIONS: Thus, anti-membrane and anti-spike antibodies together can differentiate between COVID-19 convalescent, vaccinated, and naive states to advance public health and research.