Disruption of the CCL5/RANTES-CCR5 Pathway Restores Immune Homeostasis and Reduces Plasma Viral Load in Critical COVID-19.

Abstract

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the causative agent of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), is now pandemic with nearly three million cases reported to date. Although the majority of COVID-19 patients experience only mild or moderate symptoms, a subset will progress to severe disease with pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) requiring mechanical ventilation. Emerging results indicate a dysregulated immune response characterized by runaway inflammation, including cytokine release syndrome (CRS), as the major driver of pathology in severe COVID-19. With no treatments currently approved for COVID-19, therapeutics to prevent or treat the excessive inflammation in severe disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 infection are urgently needed. Here, in 10 terminally-ill, critical COVID-19 patients we report profound elevation of plasma IL-6 and CCL5 (RANTES), decreased CD8+ T cell levels, and SARS-CoV-2 plasma viremia. Following compassionate care treatment with the CCR5 blocking antibody leronlimab, we observed complete CCR5 receptor occupancy on macrophage and T cells, rapid reduction of plasma IL-6, restoration of the CD4/CD8 ratio, and a significant decrease in SARS-CoV-2 plasma viremia. Consistent with reduction of plasma IL-6, single-cell RNA-sequencing revealed declines in transcriptomic myeloid cell clusters expressing IL-6 and interferon-related genes. These results demonstrate a novel approach to resolving unchecked inflammation, restoring immunologic deficiencies, and reducing SARS-CoV-2 plasma viral load via disruption of the CCL5-CCR5 axis, and support randomized clinical trials to assess clinical efficacy of leronlimab-mediated inhibition of CCR5 for COVID-19.

• Authors: Bruce K Patterson, Harish Seethamraju, Kush Dhody, Michael J Corley, Kazemm Kazempour, Jay P Lalezari, Alina Ps Pang, Christopher Sugai, Edgar B Francisco, Amruta Pise, Hallison Rodrigues, Matthew Ryou, Helen L Wu, Gabriela M Webb, Byung S Park, Scott Kelly, Nadar Pourhassan, Alena Lelic, Lama Kdouh, Monica Herrera, Eric Hall, Enver Aklin, Lishomwa Ndhlovu, Jonah B Sacha
• Journal: medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences (medRxiv) (May 05 2020) United States
• PMID: 32511656 (Publication Type: Preprint)