Autoantibodies targeting cytokines and connective tissue disease autoantigens are common in acute non-SARS-CoV-2 infections.

Abstract

The widespread presence of autoantibodies in acute infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is increasingly recognized, but the prevalence of autoantibodies in infections with organisms other than SARS-CoV-2 has not yet been reported. We used protein arrays to profile IgG autoantibodies from 317 samples from 268 patients across a spectrum of non-SARS-CoV-2 infections, many of whom were critically ill with pneumonia. Anti-cytokine antibodies (ACA) were identified in > 50% of patients infected with non-SARS-CoV-2 viruses and other pathogens, including patients with pneumonia attributed to bacterial causes. In cell-based functional assays, some ACA blocked binding to surface receptors for type I interferons (Type I IFN), granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), and interleukin-6 (IL-6). Autoantibodies against traditional autoantigens associated with connective tissue diseases (CTDs) were also commonly observed in these cohorts, including newly-detected antibodies that emerged in longitudinal samples from patients infected with influenza. We conclude that autoantibodies, some of which are functionally active, may be much more prevalent than previously appreciated in patients who are symptomatically infected with diverse pathogens.

• Authors: Allan Feng, Emily Yang, Andrew Moore, Shaurya Dhingra, Sarah Chang, Xihui Yin, Ruoxi Pi, Elisabeth Mack, Sara Völkel, Reinhard Geßner, Margrit Gundisch, Andreas Neubauer, Harald Renz, Sotirios Tsiodras, Paraskevi Fragkou, Adijat Asuni, Joseph Levitt, Jennifer Wilson, Michelle Leong, Jennifer Lumb, Rong Mao, Kassandra Pinedo, Jonasel Roque, Christopher Richards, Mikayla Stabile, Gayathri Swaminathan, Maria Salagianni, Vasiliki Triantafyllia, Wilhelm Bertrams, Catherine Blish, Jan Carette, Jennifer Frankovich, Eric Meffre, Kari C Nadeau, Upinder Singh, Taia Wang, Eline Luning Prak, Susanne Herold, Evangelos Andreakos, Bernd Schmeck, Chrysanthi Skevaki, Angela Rogers, Paul Utz
• Journal: Research square (Res Sq) (Jan 20 2022) United States
• PMID: 35075455 (Publication Type: Preprint)