• Bin Lou, Ting-Dong Li, Shu-Fa Zheng, Ying-Ying Su, Zhi-Yong Li, Wei Liu, Fei Yu, Sheng-Xiang Ge, Qian-Da Zou, Quan Yuan, Sha Lin, Cong-Ming Hong, Xiang-Yang Yao, Xue-Jie Zhang, Ding-Hui Wu, Guo-Liang Zhou, Wang-Heng Hou, Ting-Ting Li, Ya-Li Zhang, Shi-Yin Zhang, Jian Fan, Jun Zhang, Ning-Shao Xia, and Yu Chen.
• Dept of Laboratory Medicine, the First Affiliated Hospital, College of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
• Eur. Respir. J. 2020 Aug 1; 56 (2).

BackgroundTimely diagnosis of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection is a prerequisite for treatment and prevention. The serology characteristics and complement diagnosis value of the antibody test to RNA test need to be demonstrated.MethodSerial sera of 80 patients with PCR-confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) were collected at the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China. Total antibody (Ab), IgM and IgG antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 were detected, and the antibody dynamics during the infection were described.ResultsThe seroconversion rates for Ab, IgM and IgG were 98.8%, 93.8% and 93.8%, respectively. The first detectible serology marker was Ab, followed by IgM and IgG, with a median seroconversion time of 15, 18 and 20 days post exposure (d.p.e.) or 9, 10 and 12 days post onset (d.p.o.), respectively. The antibody levels increased rapidly beginning at 6 d.p.o. and were accompanied by a decline in viral load. For patients in the early stage of illness (0-7 d.p.o), Ab showed the highest sensitivity (64.1%) compared with IgM and IgG (33.3% for both; p<0.001). The sensitivities of Ab, IgM and IgG increased to 100%, 96.7% and 93.3%, respectively, 2 weeks later. When the same antibody type was detected, no significant difference was observed between enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays and other forms of immunoassays.ConclusionsA typical acute antibody response is induced during SARS-CoV-2 infection. Serology testing provides an important complement to RNA testing in the later stages of illness for pathogenic-specific diagnosis and helpful information to evaluate the adapted immunity status of patients.Copyright ©ERS 2020.

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