摘要
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2(SARS-CoV-2)is a novel beta-coronavirus that has emerged and caused a global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19).1,2 Clinical manifestations of COVID-19 are age dependent,with children appearing to be less vulnerable than adults to severe disease.3,4 It has been reported that a subset of children and adults without previous infection had higher levels of humoral and cellular immunity to SARS-CoV-2,which may influence disease severity.5,6,7,8 Another study found that children who had never been exposed to SARS-CoV-2 had higher levels of cross-reactive antibodies to the spike glycoprotein subunit S2 of SARS-CoV-2 than adults.9 These findings raise the hypothesis that children may have a higher degree of preexisting cross-reactive immunity that provides some level of protection from severe COVID-19.In this study,we determined antibody responses to SARS-CoV-2 in adults after infection and compared these responses in both children and adults with no prior exposure to SARS-CoV-2.Moreover,we mapped antibody epitopes elicited after infection,and cross-reactive antibody epitopes without prior SARS-CoV-2 infection,at high resolution using SARS-CoV-2 spike protein peptide arrays.
基金
funded through internal institutional funds from Children's Mercy Research Institute and Children's Mercy Kansas City.
