Characterization of IgG Antibody Response against SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) in the Cypriot Population

• DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms10010085
• Publication Date: 2022-01-04T01:49:38Z
• Authors: George Krashias; Elie Deeba; Astero Constantinou; Maria Hadjiagapiou; Dana Koptides; Jan Richter; Christina Tryfonos; Stavros Bashiardes; Anastasia Lambria...; Maria A. Loizidou; Andreas Hadjisavvas; Mihalis I. Panayi...; Christina Christo...
• Keywords: 0301 basic medicine; nucleocapsid (N) protein; 03 medical and health sciences; SARS-CoV-2; nucleocapsid (N) protein; Spike 1 receptor binding protein; IgG antibody; seroprevalence; seroprevalence; SARS-CoV-2; QH301-705.5; IgG antibody; Biology (General); Spike 1 receptor binding protein; Article; 3. Good health

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic has hit its second year and continues to damage lives and livelihoods across the globe. There continues to be a global effort to present serological data on SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in different individuals. As such, this study aimed to characterize the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in the Cypriot population for the first time since the pandemic started. Our results show that a majority of people infected with SARS-CoV-2 developed IgG antibodies against the virus, whether anti-NP, anti-S1RBD, or both, at least 20 days after their infection. Additionally, the percentage of people with at least one antibody against SARS-CoV-2 in the group of volunteers deemed SARS-CoV-2 negative via RT-PCR or who remain untested/undetermined (14.43%) is comparable to other reported percentages worldwide, ranging anywhere from 0.2% to 24%. We postulate that these percentages reflect the underreporting of true infections in the population, and also show the steady increase of herd immunity. Additionally, we showed a significantly marked decrease in anti-NP IgG antibodies in contrast to relatively stable levels of anti-S1RBD IgG antibodies in previously infected individuals across time.