SARS-CoV-2 specific memory B-cells from individuals with diverse disease severities recognize SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern.

The unprecedented SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has called for substantial investigations into the capacity of the human immune system to protect against reinfection and keep pace with the evolution SARS-CoV-2. We evaluated the magnitude and durability of the SARS-CoV-2 specific antibody responses against parental WA1 SARS-CoV-2 receptor binding domain (RBD) and a representative variant of concern (VoC) RBD using antibodies from two antibody compartments: long-lived plasma cell-derived plasma antibodies and antibodies encoded by SARS-CoV-2 specific memory B-cells. Thirty-five subjects naturally infected with SARS-CoV-2 were evaluated: While only 25/35 subjects had VoC RBD reactive plasma antibodies, 34/35 (97%) subjects had VoC-RBD-reactive memory B-cell derived antibodies. Our finding that 97% of previously infected individuals have MBCs specific for variant RBDs provides reason for optimism regarding the capacity of vaccination, prior infection, and/or both, to elicit immunity with the capacity to limit disease severity and transmission of VoCs as they to arise and circulate.