SARS-CoV-2 antibody progression and neutralizing potential in mild symptomatic COVID-19 patients – a comparative long term post-infection study

BACKGROUND: Since December 2019, SARS-CoV-2 has been keeping the world in suspense. Rapid tests, molecular diagnosis of acute infections, and vaccination campaigns with vaccines are building blocks of strategic pandemic control worldwide. For laboratory diagnostics, the quantification of the antibody titer of convalescents and vaccinated patients is thus increasingly coming to the fore. METHODS: Here we present an evaluation on the comparability of five serological tests on a cohort of 13 patients with mild COVID-19 disease. Also participants who were vaccinated after recovery were included in this study. All common immune methods (ELISA, CLIA, PETIA) and SARS-CoV-2 specific antigens (N-, S1- and RBD-) were specifically tracked and directly compared for up to 455 days. The titer of recovered participants was also set to the degree of symptoms during infection and the occurrence of Long-COVID. In addition, relative comparability of different serological tests, all standardized to WHO, was set in reference to the neutralizing potential of the corresponding participants. FINDINGS: The individual immune responses over 455 days after a mild SARS-CoV-2 infection remain stable, in contrast to vaccinated participants. All sero-tests reveal comparable performance and dynamics during the study and compared well to a surrogate neutralization test. CONCLUSION: The information presented here will help clinicians in the daily laboratory work in the selection and evaluation of different serological tests offered. The data also will support in respect of a sero-test-based neutralization cutoff.