Response kinetics of IgG antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 targets: comparing vaccinated and non-vaccinated US clinical patients through linear analysis of Binding Antibody Units Restricted; Files Only
Sandford, Ryan (Spring 2023)
Published
Abstract
This study discusses the importance of measuring antibody levels in the blood to understand SARS-CoV-
2 infections and immune responses. Differences in disease severity and vulnerability based on age, health
condition, and sex have been identified since the pandemic began in early 2020. However, detecting
present and past infections using serological data is still evolving, and the saturation of COVID-19
literature can introduce misclassification and selection bias. Standardization of lab protocols and assays
using WHO ratios and measurements is being pursued, but changes in variant prevalence and repeated
waves of infections can complicate scientific determinations. This study was sourced from the Flu VE Network
and CDC Cares Act funding and used cross-sectional data from seven sentinel sites in the US. A 7plex assay was
used to analyze IgG antibodies of both Receptor Binding Domain (RBD) and Nucleocapsid Proteins (NP) for linear
analysis of COVID-19 antibody response by health condition, vaccination status, age, sex, and race, as well as RBD
and NP levels at baseline as predictors of antibody change over time. The study examined the relationship
between COVID-19 vaccine doses, RBD levels, and COVID-19 positivity through analysis of acute samples (2,576)
and paired analysis (218). This thesis filled several important gaps in the literature on COVID-19 antibody
responses as measured by RBD and NP BAU levels. The study found that having a breakthrough infection, as
indicated by a positive COVID-19 PCR test at the acute visit, was associated with a significantly lower level of anti-
RBD antibody. This result was significant after controlling for key demographic factors as well as the time between
the last vaccine and the acute visit, and the number of vaccine doses. Hence, this implies that vaccinated
individuals with a more robust or persistent anti-RBD response are relatively protected from breakthrough
infection compared to those individuals with a less robust response. Since this analysis controlled for the number
of vaccine doses, we cannot determine from this analysis the contribution of differences in vaccine number to this
effect, which could be further explored in analysis stratified by vaccine number.
Table of Contents
1) Background
2) Last Immune Event and COVID Waves
3) Aim 1: Examine the relationship between vaccination and IgG response.
4) Aim 2: Focusing on breakthrough infections (i.e., vaccinated subset only), examine the relationship between pre-existing medical conditions, demographic variables, and specific 5) vaccination characteristics on acute and convalescent IgG responses.
5) Manuscript
6)Introduction
7) Immunological Response
8) Targets
9)Site Specific Cross Sectional Sampling
10) Descriptive Statistics for Overall-Sample-Set
11) Aim 1a: Vaccination and Antibody Titers
12) Sensitivity Analysis:
13) Aim1b: Vaccine Only Comparison
14) Descriptive Statistics for Paired Sub-Set
15) Aim2a: Health Condition and Immune Response
16) Analysis 2: NP at Baseline Predicting NP Change (logistic regression)
17) Aim2b: Health Conditions
18) Follow Up at +10 Days
About this Master's Thesis
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File download under embargo until 18 May 2025 | 2023-04-25 17:18:52 -0400 | File download under embargo until 18 May 2025 |
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