By: www.medrxiv.org

Abstract

The duration and nature of immunity generated in response to SARS-CoV-2 infection is unknown.

Many public health responses and modeled scenarios for COVID-19 outbreaks caused by SARSCoV-2 assume that infection results in an immune response that protects individuals from future

infections or illness for some amount of time. The timescale of protection is a critical determinant

of the future impact of the pathogen. The presence or absence of protective immunity due to

infection or vaccination (when available) will affect future transmission and illness severity. The

dynamics of immunity and nature of protection are relevant to discussions surrounding therapeutic

use of convalescent sera as well as efforts to identify individuals with protective immunity. Here,

we review the scientific literature on antibody immunity to coronaviruses, including SARS-CoV-2

as well as the related SARS-CoV-1, MERS-CoV and human endemic coronaviruses (HCoVs).

We reviewed 1281 abstracts and identified 322 manuscripts relevant to 5 areas of focus: 1)

antibody kinetics, 2) correlates of protection, 3) immunopathogenesis, 4) antigenic diversity and

cross-reactivity and 5) population seroprevalence. While studies of SARS-CoV-2 are necessary

to determine immune responses to it, evidence from other coronaviruses can provide clues and

guide future research.

Read more: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.04.14.20065771v1.full.pdf