Major Discoveries . . . The Lu Jiahai team at Sun Yat-sen University has revealed that anti-SARS-CoV antibodies can be present for at least 12 years and may have an immune effect on coronaviruses such as 2019-nCoV.

Inature's ongoing global outbreak of 2019 ncov is significantly similar to the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) 17 years ago.during the SARS outbreak from 2002 to 2003, medical staff formed a special group of patients.although virus specific IgG plays an important role in virus neutralization and prevention of future infections, there is limited information on the long-term persistence of IgG after SARS like coronavirus infection.on February 14, 2020, Lu Jiahai team of Sun Yat sen University published a non peer-reviewed research paper entitled "long term persistence of IgG antibodies in SARS CoV affected healthcare workers" on the preprint platform medrxiv. The study found that anti SARS CoV IgG could last up to 12 years.IgG titers usually peaked in 2004, declined rapidly from 2004 to 2006, and then continued to decline at a slower rate.until 2015, the IgG titer of medical workers infected with SARS coronavirus remained at a very high level.in summary, the study found that IgG antibodies against SARS CoV could persist for at least 12 years.the presence of SARS CoV IgG may provide immunity against SARS CoV and other β - coronaviruses (such as 2019 ncov).this study provides valuable information on humoral immune responses to SARS CoV and 2019 ncov. Novel coronavirus pneumonia was reported in Wuhan, Hubei, China in December2019.the disease has spread rapidly from Wuhan to other areas.it is worth noting that 2019 ncov is very similar to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS CoV), characterized by high mortality and infectivity.therefore, information about SARS CoV will be very useful for the prevention and control of the current epidemic situation.SARS was first confirmed in Guangdong, China from 2002 to 2003, and then became a pandemic. It spread rapidly to 31 countries and regions, causing panic and global public health crisis.who has reported a total of 8422 SARS cases in the world, with a fatality rate of 10.88% (916 / 8422); among these total cases, 5327 cases were from 29 provinces in China, and 349 cases died.Guangdong is one of the most affected provinces, with 1511 cases reported, of which 22.90% (346 / 1511) occurred among medical staff.during the emergency disease control period, front-line medical staff including doctors, nurses and other medical staff exposed SARS patients to the virus during the early stage of the epidemic. therefore, studies are under way to determine the mechanism of SARS CoV interacting with the host immune system, traversing host disorders and other related aspects. recently, studies have shown that SARS CoV may originate from bats. bat coronavirus isolates have shown the ability to recognize ACE2 receptors in humans and bats. coronavirus can utilize a variety of cellular receptors and may cause a variety of diseases, such as respiratory diseases and gastrointestinal diseases. in particular, spinosin is an important determinant of virus receptor interaction, interspecific transmission and host preference, and its mutation can promote interspecific infection and human to human transmission. Another novel coronavirus, middle respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), similar to SARS-CoV, appeared in the Middle East in 2012, . mers cov has been proved to be transmissible from camel to human, highlighting the continuing threat of SARS CoV or other similar coronaviruses. SARS CoV IgG antibody has neutralizing activity and can prevent infection. the presence of antiviral and nucleocapsid IgG antibodies represents a protective immune response. although some previous studies have reported the vertical distribution of SARS IgG antibodies for up to five years, there is a lack of understanding of the humoral immune response over a long period of time. in this study, 34 medical staff with SARS CoV infection were followed up for 13 years. serum samples were collected every year from 2003 to 2015. in 2015, 20 SARS CoV infected patients and 40 uninfected medical staff were recruited and their serum samples were collected. using the complete virus and the recombinant nucleocapsid protein of SARS CoV as diagnostic antigen, IgG antibody was tested in all serum by ELISA. the study found that anti SARS CoV IgG could last up to 12 years. IgG titers usually peaked in 2004, declined rapidly from 2004 to 2006, and then continued to decline at a slower rate. until 2015, the IgG titer of medical workers infected with SARS coronavirus remained at a very high level. in summary, the study found that IgG antibodies against SARS CoV could persist for at least 12 years. the presence of SARS CoV IgG may provide protection against SARS CoV and other beta coronaviruses. this study provides valuable information on humoral immune responses to SARS CoV and 2019 ncov. reference message: