Abstract
The consequences of past COVID-19 infection for personal and population health are emerging, but accurately identifying distant infection is a challenge. Anti-spike antibodies rise after both vaccination and infection and anti-nucleocapsid antibodies rapidly decline. We evaluated anti-membrane antibodies in COVID-19 naïve, vaccinated, and convalescent subjects to determine if they persist and accurately detect distant infection. We found that anti-membrane antibodies persist for at least a year and are a sensitive and specific marker of past COVID-19 infection. Thus, anti-membrane and anti-spike antibodies together can differentiate between COVID-19 convalescent, vaccinated, and naïve states to advance public health and research.
Keywords: antibody, SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19
Contributor Information
Maya F Amjadi, Department of Medicine, University of Wisconsin (UW)-Madison, Madison, 53705, USA.
Ryan R Adyniec, Department of Medicine, University of Wisconsin (UW)-Madison, Madison, 53705, USA.
Srishti Gupta, Department of Medicine, University of Wisconsin (UW)-Madison, Madison, 53705, USA.
S Janna Bashar, Department of Medicine, University of Wisconsin (UW)-Madison, Madison, 53705, USA.
Aisha M Mergaert, Department of Medicine, University of Wisconsin (UW)-Madison, Madison, 53705, USA; Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, UW-Madison, Madison, 53705, USA.
Katarina M Braun, Department of Pathobiological Sciences, UW-Madison, Madison, 53705, USA.
Gage K Moreno, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, UW-Madison, Madison, 53705, USA.
David H O’Connor, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, UW-Madison, Madison, 53705, USA.
Thomas C Friedrich, Department of Pathobiological Sciences, UW-Madison, Madison, 53705, USA.
Nasia Safdar, Department of Medicine, University of Wisconsin (UW)-Madison, Madison, 53705, USA.
Sara S McCoy, Department of Medicine, University of Wisconsin (UW)-Madison, Madison, 53705, USA.
Miriam A Shelef, Department of Medicine, University of Wisconsin (UW)-Madison, Madison, 53705, USA; William S. Middleton Memorial Veterans Hospital, Madison, 53705, USA.
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