Early Viral Clearance and Antibody Kinetics of COVID-19 Among Asymptomatic Carriers

Xiao，Tongyang1; Wang，Yanrong2; Yuan，Jing3; Ye，Haocheng1; Wei，Lanlan1; Liao，Xuejiao1; Wang，Haiyan1; Qian，Shen1; Wang，Zhaoqin1; Liu，Lei1,4; Zhang，Zheng1,4,5

2021-03-15

10.3389/fmed.2021.595773

Frontiers in Medicine   影响因子和分区

2296-858X

Asymptomatic carriers contribute to the spread of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), but their clinical characteristics, viral kinetics, and antibody responses remain unclear. A total of 56 COVID-19 patients without symptoms at admission and 19 age-matched symptomatic patients were enrolled. RNA of SARS-CoV-2 was tested using transcriptase quantitative PCR, and the total antibodies (Ab), IgG, IgA, and IgM against the SARS-CoV-2 were tested using Chemiluminescence Microparticle Immuno Assay. Among 56 patients without symptoms at admission, 33 cases displayed symptoms and 23 remained asymptomatic throughout the follow-up period. 43.8% of the asymptomatic carriers were children and none of the asymptomatic cases had recognizable changes in C-reactive protein or interleukin-6, except one 64-year-old patient. The initial threshold cycle value of nasopharyngeal SARS-CoV-2 in asymptomatic carriers was similar to that in pre-symptomatic and symptomatic patients, but the positive viral nucleic acid detection period of asymptomatic carriers (9.63 days) was shorter than pre-symptomatic patients (13.6 days). There were no obvious differences in the seropositive conversion rate of total Ab, IgG, and IgA among the three groups, though the rates of IgM varied largely. The average peak IgG and IgM COI of asymptomatic cases was 3.5 and 0.8, respectively, which is also lower than those in symptomatic patients with peaked IgG and IgM COI of 4.5 and 2.4 (p < 0.05). Young COVID-19 patients seem to be asymptomatic cases with early clearance of SARS-CoV-2 and low levels of IgM generation but high total Ab, IgG, and IgA. Our findings provide empirical information for viral clearance and antibody kinetics of asymptomatic COVID-19 patients.

antibody asymptomatic COVID-19 SARS-CoV-2 viral clearance

SCI

英语

第一 ; 通讯

National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars[82025022] ; National Key Plan for Scientific Research and Development of China["2020YFC0848800","2020YFC0844200","2020YFC0846301"] ; Central Charity Fund of Chinese Academy of Medical Science[2020-PT310-009] ; Shenzhen Bay Funding[2020B1111340074] ; China Postdoctoral Science Foundation[2020M670087ZX] ; Novel Coronavirus prevention and control project for Guangdong province["2020B1111340031","2020B1111340026"]

General & Internal Medicine

Medicine, General & Internal

WOS:000634267500001

FRONTIERS MEDIA SA

2-s2.0-85103339537

Scopus

1.National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Disease,School of Medicine,Institute of Hepatology,Shenzhen Third People's Hospital,The Second Affiliated Hospital,Southern University of Science and Technology,Shenzhen,China
2.Department of Pediatrics,National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Disease,Shenzhen Third People's Hospital,Shenzhen,China
3.Department of Infectious Diseases,National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Disease,Shenzhen Third People's Hospital,Shenzhen,China
4.Shenzhen Research Center for Communicable Disease Diagnosis and Treatment of Chinese Academy of Medical Science,Shenzhen,China
5.Guangdong Key Laboratory for Anti-infection Drug Quality Evaluation,Shenzhen,China

Xiao，Tongyang,Wang，Yanrong,Yuan，Jing,et al. Early Viral Clearance and Antibody Kinetics of COVID-19 Among Asymptomatic Carriers[J]. Frontiers in Medicine,2021,8.

Xiao，Tongyang.,Wang，Yanrong.,Yuan，Jing.,Ye，Haocheng.,Wei，Lanlan.,...&Zhang，Zheng.(2021).Early Viral Clearance and Antibody Kinetics of COVID-19 Among Asymptomatic Carriers.Frontiers in Medicine,8.

Xiao，Tongyang,et al."Early Viral Clearance and Antibody Kinetics of COVID-19 Among Asymptomatic Carriers".Frontiers in Medicine 8(2021).