SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence, seroconversion and neutralizing antibodies in a systemic lupus erythematosus cohort and comparison to controls

Cytokine autoantibodies in SARS-CoV-2 prepandemic and intrapandemic samples from an SLE cohort

“…The frequency of cytokine autoantibodies observed in our study is in keeping with previous publications that used similar assay techniques reporting that up to 27% of patients with SLE had cytokine autoantibodies 1 3. In the present study, none of the patients with SLE with confirmed exposure to SARS-CoV-2 had autoantibodies to T1IFN and, as we previously reported,11 none of the 173 patients in our cohort, including the 9 patients with confirmed exposure, had severe COVID-19 symptoms necessitating hospitalisation. Hence, we could not confirm that T1IFN autoantibodies increase the risk for severe SARS-CoV-2.…”

“…The overall observed frequency of anti-IFNγ autoantibodies in our study is consistent with a previous report of 11% in patients with SLE 1. In an earlier communication, we reported that this SLE cohort had a lower rate of prepandemic seropositivity and a slightly lower to similar rate of intrapandemic seropositivity compared with contemporaneous controls 11. Granted, in the current report we did not study the neutralising effect of cytokine autoantibodies, but it would be difficult to explain T1IFN neutralising activity in the absence of detectable T1IFN cytokine autoantibodies.…”

“…The SLE cohort consisted of 173 patients (94.8% female, mean age 48.5 years, mean disease duration 11.7 years, 42.8% non-White race/ethnicity, 83.2% prescribed hydroxychloroquine, 28.9% corticosteroids and 43.9% other immunomodulators) 11. Intrapandemic samples from nine patients had SARS-CoV-2-positive serology and/or RT-PCR confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection (SARS-CoV-2 serology + and RT-PCR+ (n=3); SARS-CoV-2 serology + and RT-PCR not done (n=3); SARS-CoV-2 serology− and RT-PCR+ (n=3)), yielding 164 patients with no laboratory evidence of SARS-CoV-2 exposure.…”

“…SLE-related autoantibodies (anti-double stranded DNA (dsDNA), anti-Smith (Sm), anti-U1-ribonucleoprotein (RNP), anti-ribosomal P, anti-SSA/Ro60, anti-Ro52/(tripartite motif containing-21) TRIM21 and antichromatin) were detected in the prepandemic and intrapandemic sera by commercially available multianalyte immunoassays as previously published 9 10. Prepandemic serum samples from the SLE cohort were biobanked prior to 01 January 2020 and intrapandemic samples were collected from 15 March 2020 to 31 January 2021; all patients were unvaccinated at the time of serum collection 11. All samples were tested for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies using an ELISA measuring IgA and IgG antispike 1 (S1) protein (Euroimmun AG, Lübeck, Germany) and an assay detecting IgG antibodies to nucleocapsid (N), S1 receptor binding domain (RBD) and S1 (XMAP: Luminex Corporation, Austin, Texas, USA) 11.…”

“… 9 10 Prepandemic serum samples from the SLE cohort were biobanked prior to 01 January 2020 and intrapandemic samples were collected from 15 March 2020 to 31 January 2021; all patients were unvaccinated at the time of serum collection. 11 All samples were tested for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies using an ELISA measuring IgA and IgG antispike 1 (S1) protein (Euroimmun AG, Lübeck, Germany) and an assay detecting IgG antibodies to nucleocapsid (N), S1 receptor binding domain (RBD) and S1 (XMAP: Luminex Corporation, Austin, Texas, USA). 11 RT-PCR tests were performed if clinically indicated and results collected retrospectively through to 31 January 2021.…”