Skip directly to site content Skip directly to page options Skip directly to A-Z link Skip directly to A-Z link Skip directly to A-Z link
Volume 29, Number 2—February 2023
Research

Correlates of Protection, Thresholds of Protection, and Immunobridging among Persons with SARS-CoV-2 Infection

David S. KhouryComments to Author , Timothy E. Schlub, Deborah Cromer, Megan Steain, Youyi Fong, Peter B. Gilbert, Kanta Subbarao, James A. Triccas, Stephen J. Kent, and Miles P. DavenportComments to Author 
Author affiliations: The University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia (D.S. Khoury, D. Cromer, M.P. Davenport); University of Sydney, Sydney (T.E. Schlub, M. Steain, J.A. Triccas); Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, Washington, USA (Y. Fong, P.B. Gilbert); The University of Melbourne at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia (K. Subbarao, S.J. Kent); Monash University, Melbourne (S.J. Kent)

Main Article

Figure 3

Breakthrough-infection data and protection from SARS-CoV-2 infection showing the association between neutralizing antibody titer and protection from symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection for an individual person. A) BNT162b2 (Pfizer-BioNTech, https://www.pfizer.com) (5); B) mRNA-1273 (Moderna, https://www.modernatx.com), pseudovirus ID50 (4); C) ChAdOx1 (AstraZeneca, https://www.astrazeneca.com), live virus (3); D) ChAdOx 1, pseudovirus ID50 (3). The protection curve derived from the vaccine-comparison model (red dashed line and shading 95% CIs) is compared with the observed normalized frequencies of neutralization level (calculations in Appendix) of breakthrough infections reported in 3 studies (gray/black dots). Data from 2 mRNA vaccine studies of mRNA-1273 (A) and BNT162b2 (B), and the adenoviral vector vaccine ChAdOx1 nCoV19 (C, D) are shown. Lower opacity dots indicate fewer persons with neutralization titers in that range. Also shown in each panel are modelled protection curves showing the relationship between individual neutralizing antibodies and protection estimated in each breakthrough-infection study. Note: Breakthrough-infection data of BNT162b2 vaccinees were generously supplied by the authors of reference (5). The data were unavailable for the other 2 studies and were extracted from the original manuscripts; extraction of data from Gilbert et al. (4) was conducted manually and may be less reliable than that of the other studies (Appendix). ID50, 50% infectious dose; ID80, 80% infectious dose.

Figure 3. Breakthrough-infection data and protection from SARS-CoV-2 infection showing the association between neutralizing antibody titer and protection from symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection for an individual person. A) BNT162b2 (Pfizer-BioNTech, https://www.pfizer.com) (5); B) mRNA-1273 (Moderna, https://www.modernatx.com), pseudovirus ID50 (4); C) ChAdOx1 (AstraZeneca, https://www.astrazeneca.com), live virus (3); D) ChAdOx 1, pseudovirus ID50 (3). The protection curve derived from the vaccine-comparison model (red dashed line and shading 95% CIs) is compared with the observed normalized frequencies of neutralization level (calculations in Appendix) of breakthrough infections reported in 3 studies (gray/black dots). Data from 2 mRNA vaccine studies of mRNA-1273 (A) and BNT162b2 (B), and the adenoviral vector vaccine ChAdOx1 nCoV19 (C, D) are shown. Lower opacity dots indicate fewer persons with neutralization titers in that range. Also shown in each panel are modelled protection curves showing the relationship between individual neutralizing antibodies and protection estimated in each breakthrough-infection study. Note: Breakthrough-infection data of BNT162b2 vaccinees were generously supplied by the authors of reference (5). The data were unavailable for the other 2 studies and were extracted from the original manuscripts; extraction of data from Gilbert et al. (4) was conducted manually and may be less reliable than that of the other studies (Appendix). ID50, 50% infectious dose; ID80, 80% infectious dose.

Main Article

References
  1. Huddleston  J, Barnes  JR, Rowe  T, Xu  X, Kondor  R, Wentworth  DE, et al. Integrating genotypes and phenotypes improves long-term forecasts of seasonal influenza A/H3N2 evolution. eLife. 2020;9:e60067. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  2. Khoury  DS, Cromer  D, Reynaldi  A, Schlub  TE, Wheatley  AK, Juno  JA, et al. Neutralizing antibody levels are highly predictive of immune protection from symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection. Nat Med. 2021;27:120511. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  3. Feng  S, Phillips  DJ, White  T, Sayal  H, Aley  PK, Bibi  S, et al.; Oxford COVID Vaccine Trial Group. Correlates of protection against symptomatic and asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection. Nat Med. 2021;27:203240. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  4. Gilbert  PB, Montefiori  DC, McDermott  AB, Fong  Y, Benkeser  D, Deng  W, et al.; Immune Assays Team§; Moderna, Inc. Team§; Coronavirus Vaccine Prevention Network (CoVPN)/Coronavirus Efficacy (COVE) Team§; United States Government (USG)/CoVPN Biostatistics Team§. Immune correlates analysis of the mRNA-1273 COVID-19 vaccine efficacy clinical trial. Science. 2022;375:4350. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  5. Bergwerk  M, Gonen  T, Lustig  Y, Amit  S, Lipsitch  M, Cohen  C, et al. Covid-19 breakthrough infections in vaccinated health care workers. N Engl J Med. 2021;385:147484. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  6. Earle  KA, Ambrosino  DM, Fiore-Gartland  A, Goldblatt  D, Gilbert  PB, Siber  GR, et al. Evidence for antibody as a protective correlate for COVID-19 vaccines. Vaccine. 2021;39:44238. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  7. World Health Organization. Establishment of the WHO International Standard and Reference Panel for anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody. Geneva: Expert Committee on Biological Standardization; 2020. p. 9–10.
  8. Khoury  DS, Wheatley  AK, Ramuta  MD, Reynaldi  A, Cromer  D, Subbarao  K, et al. Measuring immunity to SARS-CoV-2 infection: comparing assays and animal models. Nat Rev Immunol. 2020;20:72738. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  9. Folegatti  PM, Ewer  KJ, Aley  PK, Angus  B, Becker  S, Belij-Rammerstorfer  S, et al.; Oxford COVID Vaccine Trial Group. Safety and immunogenicity of the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine against SARS-CoV-2: a preliminary report of a phase 1/2, single-blind, randomised controlled trial. Lancet. 2020;396:46778. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  10. Jackson  LA, Anderson  EJ, Rouphael  NG, Roberts  PC, Makhene  M, Coler  RN, et al.; mRNA-1273 Study Group. mRNA-1273 Study Group. An mRNA vaccine against SARS-CoV-2—preliminary report. N Engl J Med. 2020;383:192031. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  11. Baden  LR, El Sahly  HM, Essink  B, Kotloff  K, Frey  S, Novak  R, et al.; COVE Study Group. Efficacy and safety of the mRNA-1273 SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. N Engl J Med. 2021;384:40316. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  12. Cromer  D, Steain  M, Reynaldi  A, Schlub  TE, Wheatley  AK, Juno  JA, et al. Neutralising antibody titres as predictors of protection against SARS-CoV-2 variants and the impact of boosting: a meta-analysis. Lancet Microbe. 2022;3:e5261. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  13. Walter  EB, Talaat  KR, Sabharwal  C, Gurtman  A, Lockhart  S, Paulsen  GC, et al.; C4591007 Clinical Trial Group. C4591007 Clinical Trial Group. Evaluation of the BNT162b2 Covid-19 vaccine in children 5 to 11 years of age. N Engl J Med. 2022;386:3546. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  14. Medicines & Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency; Access Consortium. alignment with ICMRA consensus on immunobridging for authorising new COVID-19 vaccines [cited 2022 Apr 8]. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/access-consortium-alignment-with-icmra-consensus-on-immunobridging-for-authorising-new-covid-19-vaccines/access-consortium-alignment-with-icmra-consensus-on-immunobridging-for-authorising-new-covid-19-vaccines
  15. Medicines & Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency. Guidance on strain changes in authorised COVID-19 vaccines [cited 2022 Apr 8]. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/access-consortium-guidance-on-strain-changes-in-authorised-covid-19-vaccines/guidance-on-strain-changes-in-authorised-covid-19-vaccines
  16. Juno  JA, Tan  HX, Lee  WS, Reynaldi  A, Kelly  HG, Wragg  K, et al. Humoral and circulating follicular helper T cell responses in recovered patients with COVID-19. Nat Med. 2020;26:142834. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  17. Wheatley  AK, Juno  JA, Wang  JJ, Selva  KJ, Reynaldi  A, Tan  HX, et al. Evolution of immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 in mild-moderate COVID-19. Nat Commun. 2021;12:1162. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  18. Cele  S, Jackson  L, Khoury  DS, Khan  K, Moyo-Gwete  T, Tegally  H, et al.; NGS-SA; COMMIT-KZN Team. Omicron extensively but incompletely escapes Pfizer BNT162b2 neutralization. Nature. 2022;602:6546. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  19. Cromer  D, Reynaldi  A, Steain  M, Triccas  JA, Davenport  MP, Khoury  DS. Relating in vitro neutralisation level and protection in the CVnCoV (CUREVAC) trial. Clin Infect Dis. 2022;75:e8789. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  20. Fong  Y, McDermott  AB, Benkeser  D, Roels  S, Stieh  DJ, Vandebosch  A, et al.; Immune Assays Team; the Coronavirus Vaccine Prevention Network (CoVPN)/ENSEMBLE Team; and the United States Government (USG)/CoVPN Biostatistics Team. Immune correlates analysis of the ENSEMBLE single Ad26.COV2.S dose vaccine efficacy clinical trial. Nat Microbiol. 2022;7:19962010. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  21. Plotkin  SA. Vaccines: correlates of vaccine-induced immunity. Clin Infect Dis. 2008;47:4019. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  22. O’Brien  MP, Forleo-Neto  E, Musser  BJ, Isa  F, Chan  KC, Sarkar  N, et al.; Covid-19 Phase 3 Prevention Trial Team. Subcutaneous REGEN-COV Antibody Combination to Prevent Covid-19. N Engl J Med. 2021;385:118495. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  23. Cohen  MS, Nirula  A, Mulligan  MJ, Novak  RM, Marovich  M, Yen  C, et al.; BLAZE-2 Investigators. BLAZE-2 Investigators. Effect of bamlanivimab vs placebo on incidence of COVID-19 among residents and staff of skilled nursing and assisted living facilities: a randomized clinical trial. JAMA. 2021;326:4655. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar

Main Article

Page created: December 20, 2022
Page updated: January 21, 2023
Page reviewed: January 21, 2023
The conclusions, findings, and opinions expressed by authors contributing to this journal do not necessarily reflect the official position of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Public Health Service, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or the authors' affiliated institutions. Use of trade names is for identification only and does not imply endorsement by any of the groups named above.
file_external