TY - JOUR
T1 - Binding and neutralizing antibody responses to SARS-CoV-2 in very young children exceed those in adults
AU - Karron, Ruth A.
AU - Quesada, Maria Garcia
AU - Schappell, Elizabeth A.
AU - Schmidt, Stephen D.
AU - Knoll, Maria Deloria
AU - Hetrich, Marissa K.
AU - Veguilla, Vic
AU - Doria-Rose, Nicole
AU - Dawood, Fatimah S.
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank the Department of Pathology of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine for performing the SARS-CoV-2 Roche Elecsys assay. We are very grateful to the SEARCh families who participated in this study and to Annapolis Pediatrics, Columbia Medical Practice, Dundalk Pediatrics, and Johns Hopkins Community Physicians for allowing us to recruit households from their practices. This study was funded by US CDC award 75D30120C08737. The findings and conclusions in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the US CDC. See Supplemental Acknowledgments for SEARCh Study Team details.
Publisher Copyright:
Copyright: © 2022, Karron et al. This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
PY - 2022/4/22
Y1 - 2022/4/22
N2 - BACKGROUND. SARS-CoV-2 infections are frequently milder in children than adults, suggesting that immune responses may vary with age. However, information is limited regarding SARS-CoV-2 immune responses in young children. METHODS. We compared receptor binding domain–binding antibody (RBDAb) titers and SARSCoV-2–neutralizing antibody titers, measured by pseudovirus-neutralizing antibody assay in serum specimens obtained from children aged 0–4 years and 5–17 years and in adults aged 18–62 years at the time of enrollment in a prospective longitudinal household study of SARS-CoV-2 infection. RESULTS. Among 56 seropositive participants at enrollment, children aged 0–4 years had more than 10-fold higher RBDAb titers than adults (416 vs. 31, P < 0.0001) and the highest RBDAb titers in 11 of 12 households with seropositive children and adults. Children aged 0–4 years had only 2-fold higher neutralizing antibody than adults, resulting in higher binding-to-neutralizing antibody ratios compared with adults (2.36 vs. 0.35 for ID50, P = 0.0004). CONCLUSION. These findings suggest that young children mount robust antibody responses to SARS-CoV-2 following community infections. Additionally, these results support using neutralizing antibody to measure the immunogenicity of COVID-19 vaccines in children aged 0–4 years.
AB - BACKGROUND. SARS-CoV-2 infections are frequently milder in children than adults, suggesting that immune responses may vary with age. However, information is limited regarding SARS-CoV-2 immune responses in young children. METHODS. We compared receptor binding domain–binding antibody (RBDAb) titers and SARSCoV-2–neutralizing antibody titers, measured by pseudovirus-neutralizing antibody assay in serum specimens obtained from children aged 0–4 years and 5–17 years and in adults aged 18–62 years at the time of enrollment in a prospective longitudinal household study of SARS-CoV-2 infection. RESULTS. Among 56 seropositive participants at enrollment, children aged 0–4 years had more than 10-fold higher RBDAb titers than adults (416 vs. 31, P < 0.0001) and the highest RBDAb titers in 11 of 12 households with seropositive children and adults. Children aged 0–4 years had only 2-fold higher neutralizing antibody than adults, resulting in higher binding-to-neutralizing antibody ratios compared with adults (2.36 vs. 0.35 for ID50, P = 0.0004). CONCLUSION. These findings suggest that young children mount robust antibody responses to SARS-CoV-2 following community infections. Additionally, these results support using neutralizing antibody to measure the immunogenicity of COVID-19 vaccines in children aged 0–4 years.
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U2 - 10.1172/jci.insight.157963
DO - 10.1172/jci.insight.157963
M3 - Article
C2 - 35316213
AN - SCOPUS:85128588636
SN - 2379-3708
VL - 7
JO - JCI Insight
JF - JCI Insight
IS - 8
M1 - e157963
ER -