Temporal profile of specific antibody against SARS-CoV-2 among infected people: a literature study

  Objective  To describe the occurrence and dynamic changes of antibodies against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in infected people.

  Methods  Relevant studies published up to July 2021 were retrieved through systematically searching on PubMed, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), and Wanfang Database. Excle 2016 and SPSS 25.0 were used in data collection and analysis.

  Results  From the onset of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) symptoms, the median time of seroconversion was 8 days (the minimum – the maximum: 1 – 28 days) for immunoglobulin M (IgM), 10 days (0 – 29 days) for IgG, 7 days (1 – 13 days) for IgA, and 9 days (1 – 25.5 days) for neutralizing antibody; the median time of peak antibody titer was 16.5 days (10 – 30 days) for IgM, 21 days (15 – 30 days) for IgG, 21 days (15 – 30 days) for IgA, and 24 days (10 – 45 days) for neutralizing antibody; and the median persistent time of antibody was 63 days (60 – 84 days) for IgM, 105 days (42 – 365 days) for IgG, 41 days (30 – 100 days) for IgA, and 101 days (65 – 270 days) for neutralizing antibody, respectively.

  Conclusion  Among seroconversions of specific antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 in infected persons, IgA occurred first but with the shortest persistent duration, while IgG occurred latest but with the longest persistent duration; the serum titer of IgM peaked first, but that of neutralizing antibody the latest. The duration of serum IgM positive of patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection was shorter than that of patients with SARS-CoV infection. Meanwhile, the durations of serum positive for IgG and neutralizing antibody in SARS-CoV-2 infected patients were shorter than those in the patients with SARS-CoV or Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infection.