Features and Functions of Systemic and Mucosal Humoral Immunity Among SARS-CoV-2 Convalescent Individuals

Abstract

Understanding humoral immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 infection will play a critical role in the development of vaccines and antibody-based interventions. We report systemic and mucosal antibody responses in convalescent individuals who experienced varying disease severity. Robust antibody responses to diverse SARS-CoV-2 antigens and evidence of elevated responses to endemic CoV were observed among convalescent donors. SARS-CoV-2-specific IgA and IgG responses were often negatively correlated, particularly in mucosal samples, suggesting subject-intrinsic biases in isotype switching. Assessment of antibody-mediated effector functions revealed an inverse correlation between systemic and mucosal neutralization activity and site-dependent differences in the isotype of neutralizing antibodies. Serum neutralization correlated with systemic anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG and IgM response magnitude, while mucosal neutralization was associated with nasal SARS-CoV-2-specific IgA. These findings begin to map how diverse Ab characteristics relate to Ab functions and outcomes of infection, informing public health assessment strategies and vaccine development efforts.