Figure 5.

Antibody neutralization in COVID-19. Three characteristics appear to hold a close relationship with high antibody neutralization capacity: male sex, old age and severe disease. A possible explanation is viral persistence in patients with these characteristics, but this is yet to be confirmed. On the other side of the spectrum, alternate mechanisms have been proposed for patients that do not develop robust neutralizing antibodies, such as high cytotoxic activity and a robust innate immune response, although these remain undetermined. For investigating neutralizing dynamics against SARS-CoV-2, other models with similar coronaviruses have been explored, such as SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV and endemic CoVs. Further investigation on neutralizing capacity will present definitive solutions to the enigmas of antibody-dependent enhancement, likelihood of reinfection and the effectiveness of treatments such as convalescent plasma.