Twelve-month specific IgG response to SARS-CoV-2 receptor-binding domain among COVID-19 convalescent plasma donors in Wuhan

To investigate the duration of humoral immune response in convalescent coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients, we conducted a 12-month longitudinal study through collecting a total of 1,782 plasma samples from 869 convalescent plasma donors in Wuhan, China and tested specific antibody response. The results show that positive rate of IgG antibody against receptor-binding domain of spike protein (RBD-IgG) to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in the COVID-19 convalescent plasma donors exceeded 70% for 12 months post diagnosis. RBD-IgG kinetics displayed a gradually downward trend, the titer started to stabilize after 9 months and decreased by 68.1% compared with the 1st month. Moreover, male plasma donors produced more RBD-IgG than female plasma donors and patient age positively correlated with the RBD-IgG titer. A strong positive correlation between RBD-IgG and neutralizing antibody titers was also identified. This study is essential for understanding SARS-CoV-2-induced immune memory to develop vaccine and therapeutics.