COVID-19 patients frequently develop neurological symptoms, but the biological underpinnings of these phenomena are unknown. Through single cell RNA-seq and cytokine analyses of CSF and blood from COVID-19 patients with neurological symptoms, we find compartmentalized, CNS specific T cell activation and B cell responses. All COVID-19 cases had CSF anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies whose target epitopes diverged from serum antibodies. In an animal model, we find that intrathecal SARS-CoV-2 antibodies are found only during brain infection, and are not elicited by pulmonary infection. We produced CSF-derived monoclonal antibodies from a COVID-19 patient, and find that these mAbs target both anti-viral and anti-neural antigens—including one mAb that reacted to both spike protein and neural tissue. Overall, CSF IgG from 5/7 patients contains anti-neural reactivity. This immune survey reveals evidence of a compartmentalized immune response in the CNS of COVID-19 patients and suggests a role for autoimmunity in neurologic sequelae of COVID-19.

Background: Vaccine-elicited adaptive immunity is a prerequisite for control of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Multiple sclerosis (MS) disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) differentially target humoral and cellular immunity. A comprehensive comparison of MS DMTs on SARS-CoV-2 vaccine-specific immunity is needed, including quantitative and functional B and T cell responses.Methods: Spike-specific antibody and T cell responses were measured before and following SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in a cohort of 80 subjects, including healthy controls and MS patients in six DMT groups: untreated, glatiramer acetate (GA), dimethyl fumarate (DMF), natalizumab (NTZ), sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) receptor modulators, and anti-CD20 monoclonal antibodies. Anti-spike antibody responses were quantified by Luminex assay, high-resolution spike epitope reactivity was mapped by VirScan, and pseudovirus neutralization was assessed.Spike-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T cell responses were characterized by activation-induced marker (AIM) expression, cytokine production, and tetramer analysis.Results: Anti-spike IgG levels were similar between healthy controls, untreated MS, GA, DMF, and NTZ patients, but were significantly reduced in anti-CD20 and S1P-treated patients. Antispike seropositivity in anti-CD20 patients was significantly correlated with CD19+ B cell levels and inversely correlated with cumulative treatment duration. Spike epitope reactivity and pseudovirus neutralization was reduced in anti-CD20 and S1P patients, directly correlating with reduced spike receptor binding domain (RBD) IgG levels. Spike-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T cell reactivity remained robust across all groups except in S1P-treated patients in whom post-vaccine CD4+ T cell responses were attenuated.Conclusions: These findings from a large MS cohort exposed to a wide spectrum of MS immunotherapies have important implications for treatment-specific COVID-19 clinical guidelines.

Vaccine-elicited adaptive immunity is an essential prerequisite for effective prevention and control of coronavirus 19 (COVID-19). Treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS) involves a diverse array of disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) that target antibody and cell-mediated immunity, yet a comprehensive understanding of how MS DMTs impact SARS-CoV-2 vaccine responses is lacking. We completed a detailed analysis of SARS-CoV-2 vaccine-elicited spike antigen-specific IgG and T cell responses in a cohort of healthy controls and MS participants in six different treatment categories. Two specific DMT types, sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) receptor modulators and anti-CD20 monoclonal antibodies (mAb), resulted in significantly reduced spike-specific IgG responses. Longer duration of anti-CD20 mAb treatment prior to SARS-CoV-2 vaccination were associated with absent antibody responses. Except for reduced CD4+ T cell responses in S1P-treated patients, spike-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T cell reactivity remained robust across all MS treatment types. These findings have important implications for clinical practice guidelines and vaccination recommendations in MS patients and other immunosuppressed populations.

ore than 100 million people have been infected with SARS-CoV-2, including nearly 2 million children in the US. 1 Although respiratory disease in pediatric COVID-19 is generally mild, parainfectious and postinfectious neurologic sequelae are increasingly recognized. 2,3 These include encephalitis, seizures, aseptic meningitis, and confusion-found in about 20% of cases of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children. 4 Notably, rates of new and recurrent psychiatric illness are significantly increased in adults after SARS-CoV-2 infection compared with influenza and other respiratory infections. 5 SARS-CoV-2 RNA is rarely detected in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of patients with COVID-19, but intrathecal anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies have been reported, 6,7 suggesting possible neuroinvasion. Although some neurologically impaired adults with COVID-19 have intrathecal antineural autoantibodies, 8 to our knowledge, neither intrathecal anti-SARS-CoV-2 nor antineural antibodies have been reported in pediatric patients with COVID-19 and neuropsychiatric presentations. Methods Case IdentificationPatients younger than 21 years who presented over 5 months in 2020 to the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Benioff Children's Hospital with neuropsychiatric symptoms prompting a neurology consultation who also had evidence of a recent SARS-CoV-2 infection (positive findings on reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction [RT-PCR] or serology with clinical history consistent with recent exposure) were IMPORTANCE Neuropsychiatric manifestations of COVID-19 have been reported in the pediatric population.OBJECTIVE To determine whether anti-SARS-CoV-2 and autoreactive antibodies are present in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of pediatric patients with COVID-19 and subacute neuropsychiatric dysfunction. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTSThis case series includes 3 patients with recent SARS-CoV-2 infection as confirmed by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction or IgG serology with recent exposure history who were hospitalized at the University of California, San Francisco Benioff Children's Hospital and for whom a neurology consultation was requested over a 5-month period in 2020. During this period, 18 total children were hospitalized and tested positive for acute SARS-CoV-2 infection by reverse transcriptasepolymerase chain reaction or rapid antigen test.MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Detection and characterization of CSF anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG and antineural antibodies. RESULTSOf 3 included teenaged patients, 2 patients had intrathecal anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. CSF IgG from these 2 patients also indicated antineural autoantibodies on anatomic immunostaining. Autoantibodies targeting transcription factor 4 (TCF4) in 1 patient who appeared to have a robust response to immunotherapy were also validated. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCEPediatric patients with COVID-19 and prominent subacute neuropsychiatric symptoms, ranging from severe anxiety to delusional psychosis, may have anti-SARS-CoV-2 and antineural antibodies in their C...

A subset of patients with COVID-19 display neurologic symptoms but it remains unknown whether SARS-CoV-2 damages the central nervous system (CNS) directly through neuroinvasion, or if neurological symptoms are due to secondary mechanisms, including immune-mediated effects. Here, we examined the immune milieu in the CNS through the analysis of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and in circulation through analysis of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of COVID-19 patients with neurological symptoms. Single cell sequencing with paired repertoire sequencing of PBMCs and CSF cells show evidence for unique immune response to SARS-CoV-2 in the CNS. Strikingly, anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies are present in the CSF of all patients studied, but the antibody epitope specificity in the CSF and relative prevalence of B cell receptor sequences markedly differed when compared to those found in paired serum. Finally, using a mouse model of SARS-CoV-2 infection, we demonstrate that localized CNS immune responses occur following viral neuroinvasion, and that the CSF is a faithful surrogate for responses occurring uniquely in the CNS. These results illuminate CNS compartment-specific immune responses to SARS-CoV-2, forming the basis for informed treatment of neurological symptoms associated with COVID-19.