Figure 1: Aspects of antibody response included in this review.

This figure shows the areas of focus of our review within our conceptualisation of the stages of exposure and infection at which we believe antibody mediated immunity may play a role in the dynamics of SARS-CoV-2. At the individual level (left), antibody response following the first infection/exposure increases and then declines (Antibody kinetics). Sometime later individuals may be exposed to SARS-CoV-2 again. They may be protected from infection by their acquired immunity (Correlates of protection). Their acquired immunity may also moderate the severity of infection with some possibility that pre-existing immunity may lead to immunopathogenesis (relevant to both first and second exposure). These individual-level dynamics aggregate to form the population-level seroprevalence (right-top). Measures of seroprevalence may imperfectly measure past exposure to infection due to antigenic diversity of future SARS-CoV-2 viruses and cross-reactivity of endemic human coronaviruses (HCoVs) with SARS-CoV-2. Measures of seroprevalence may also be inconsistent across times as antibodies-levels within individuals wane.

Aspects of antibody response included in this review.