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PurposeSevere acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the causative agent of the ongoing pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). One year has passed since the first COVID-19 case, and concerns have emerged regarding new variants, meaning that characterizing antibody-mediated immune response dynamics is of paramount importance. Here, we evaluated the humoral immune response against SARS-CoV-2 in subjects during the first and second waves of the pandemic in Morocco. MethodsWe assessed humoral immune response in samples from 94 seropositive individuals in the first wave (February to August 2020) and 596 seropositive individuals in the second wave (December 2020 to January 2021). Plasma samples were collected from volunteer blood donors and their levels of serum IgG to SARS-CoV-2 nucleoprotein (NP) were determined using architect SARS-CoV-2 IgG chemiluminescence microparticle immunoassay.ResultsOur results revealed an increase of humoral immunity during the second wave than first wave (3.897 ± 0.079 vs. 2.842 ± 0.153, respectively, p<0.0001). Notably, we found an age-related gradient in antibody level, with higher antibody index in subjects at 45 years old and above (p= 0.01451). However, no significant difference was found according to gender (p= 0.8629). ConclusionsOur data highlighted an important issue regarding antibody-mediated immune response against SARS-CoV-2 infection during the second wave and this issue might have arisen due to the dynamics of different strains circulating during the progress of the pandemic.

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Background: It has been reported that interferon-λ3 (IFNL3) might influence the pathogenesis and clearance of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection. The impact of IFNL3 singlenucleotide polymorphism (SNP) on HPV infection is currently unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between variants in the IFNL3 region and HPV infection in women with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. Methods: A total of 236 HIV patients, including 65 HPV-negative and 171 HPV DNA-positive women, were enrolled into this study. The IFNL3 rs12979860 polymorphism was genotyped using a predesigned TaqMan SNP genotyping assay. Results: Data showed no significant differences in genotypes or allele frequencies between the HPV DNA-positive and the HPV-negative women (p > 0.05). After dividing the HPV-positive women according to cytology results into patients with abnormal and normal lesions, the genotype and allele distribution of the SNP did not significantly differ between the 2 groups (p > 0.05). Conclusions: Our results showed that the IFNL3 rs12979860 polymorphism is not a major determinant of the susceptibility to HPV infection and their progression to abnormal cervical lesions in women living with HIV.