# Immunologic Signatures of SARS-CoV-2 Vaccination and Disease

> **NIH NIH U01** · BETH ISRAEL DEACONESS MEDICAL CENTER · 2022 · $725,409

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
The development of a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine may be critical to ending the COVID-19 pandemic. However, a
critical gap in knowledge is the lack of understanding of correlates of SARS-CoV-2 immunity in humans.
Our preliminary data suggest that antibodies correlate with protection following vaccination in nonhuman
primates and that unique antibody functional profiles appear to predict disease outcome in natural infection in
humans. Our data also point to a converging antibody profile, including both the antigen-binding domain driving
neutralization and Fc-mediated effector functions driving protective immunity. Another gap in knowledge is the
unknown durability of protective immunity following SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccination in humans.
Our preliminary data suggest that antibody titers may wane quickly following SARS-CoV-2 infection in humans,
but larger studies and longer follow-up are needed to define the kinetics of antibody responses in convalescent
individuals. Moreover, the durability of vaccine-elicited antibody responses remains to be determined.
We hypothesize that both convalescent and vaccinated humans will develop the functional antibody
signature that correlates with vaccine protection against SARS-CoV-2 challenge in rhesus macaques.
We further hypothesize that vaccination will induce antibodies with greater durability than those induced
by natural infection and that an immunologic correlate of durability can be defined.
Specific Aim 1. Define the antibody profiles following SARS-CoV-2 infection or vaccination that correlate
with protection. We will dissect the functional antibody responses elicited in SARS-CoV-2 infected individuals
and in SARS-CoV-2 vaccinated individuals to provide insight into correlates of protection.
Specific Aim 2. Define the immunologic correlates of durability of SARS-CoV-2 antibody responses
following infection or vaccination. We will compare the durability of antibody responses induced in SARS-
CoV-2 infected and vaccinated individuals, and we will define an immunologic correlate of durability.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10688351
- **Project number:** 4U01CA260476-02
- **Recipient organization:** BETH ISRAEL DEACONESS MEDICAL CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** Dan H. Barouch
- **Activity code:** U01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $725,409
- **Award type:** 4N
- **Project period:** 2020-09-30 → 2025-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10688351

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10688351, Immunologic Signatures of SARS-CoV-2 Vaccination and Disease (4U01CA260476-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10688351. Licensed CC0.

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