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Volume 70, Issue 8

Effect of multiple freeze–thaw cycles on the detection of anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies Open Access

Abstract

Several studies have investigated the effect of repeated freeze–thaw (F/T) cycles on RNA detection for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). However, no data are available regarding the effect of repeated F/T cycles on SARS-CoV-2 antibody detection in serum. We investigated the effect of multiple F/T cycles on anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG detection using an ELISA test targeting the nucleocapsid antibodies. Ten positive and 1 negative SARS-CoV-2 IgG sera from 11 participants, in replicates of 5, were subjected to a total of 16 F/T cycles and stored at 4 °C until tested by ELISA. Statistical analysis was performed to test for F/T cycle effect. None of the 10 positive sera became negative after 16 F/T cycles. There was no significant difference in the OD average reading between the first and last F/T cycles, except for one serum with a minimal decline in the OD. The random effect linear regression of log (OD) on the number of cycles showed no significant trend, with a slope consistent with zero (B=−0.0001; 95 % CI −0.0008; 0.0006; -value=0.781). These results suggest that multiple F/T cycles had no effect on the ability of the ELISA assay to detect SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies.

  • Received:
  • Accepted:
  • Published Online:
Keyword(s): antibodies , COVID-19 , detection , freeze , IgG , SARS-CoV-2 and thaw
Funding
This study was supported by the:
  • Qatar University (Award M-QJRC-2020-5 grant.)
    • Principle Award Recipient: LaithJ. Abu Raddad
  • Qatar University (Award QUERG-CMED-2020-2)
    • Principle Award Recipient: GheyathNasrallah
  • Qatar National Research Fund (Award RRC-2-032)
    • Principle Award Recipient: GheyathNasrallah
© 2021 The Authors
  • This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The Microbiology Society waived the open access fees for this article.
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2021-08-06
2024-04-16
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Effect of multiple freeze–thaw cycles on the detection of anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies
J. Med. Microbiol. 70, 001402 (2021); https://doi.org/10.1099/jmm.0.001402
/content/journal/jmm/10.1099/jmm.0.001402
/content/journal/jmm/10.1099/jmm.0.001402
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