Exploring immune response and lab markers across COVID-19 severity levels

Y. Desheva; T. Shvedova; A. Lerner; P. Kudar; O. Kopteva; D. Petrachkova; I. Koroleva; G. Leontieva; S. Ponkratov; A. Suvorov; Y. Desheva; T. Shvedova; A. Lerner; P. Kudar; O. Kopteva; D. Petrachkova; I. Koroleva; G. Leontieva; S. Ponkratov; A. Suvorov

doi:10.3934/Allergy.2024013

AIMS Allergy and Immunology

2024, Volume 8, Issue 4: 216-231. doi: 10.3934/Allergy.2024013

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Research article

Exploring immune response and lab markers across COVID-19 severity levels

1.
Federal State Budgetary Scientific Institution ‘Institute of Experimental Medicine’, 197022, Russian Federation, Saint-Petersburg, 12, Acad. Pavlov Street, Russian Federation
2.
State budgetary institution of health care of the Leningrad region “Vsevolozhsk clinical interdistrict hospital”, 188643, Russian Federation, Leningrad region, Vsevolozhsk district, Vsevolozhsk, 20, Koltushskoe highway
3.
Northwestern State Medical University named after I.I. Mechnikov, 191015, Russian Federation, Saint-Petersburg, 41, Kirochnaya street

Received: 07 April 2024 Revised: 06 October 2024 Accepted: 22 October 2024 Published: 29 October 2024

This retrospective cohort study investigated antigen-specific antibody responses to SARS-CoV-2 and laboratory markers in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients of varying severities. Serum or plasma samples collected early in the pandemic were analyzed for the presence of IgG antibodies and IgG subclasses which target the recombinant spike (S) and nucleocapsid (N) proteins of SARS-CoV-2. Correlation analyses were conducted to assess the possible relationship between the IgG subclasses to SARS-CoV-2 proteins, inflammatory markers, and the severity of the disease. It was shown that the severity of the disease positively correlated with the C-reactive protein (CRP), but most of all with the neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR) levels. IgG titers against the S- and N-proteins decreased in the most severe COVID-19 cases, which potentially attributed to a delayed IgG formation compared to milder infections. The presence of anti-spike IgG displayed a medium negative correlation trend (not statistically significant, which might be due to the small sample size in our study) with laboratory markers (such as CRP, Fibrinogen, Degree) which are suggestive of infection severity. anti-S IgG correlated positively but weakly with the serum histamine levels. The presence of anti-N IgG at the time of hospitalization correlated with the subsequent outcome. At the same time, anti-N IgG1 correlated with the detection of the viral RNA in the blood. Thus, seroconversion may occur later in patients with a more severe pneumonia. The summary data suggests correlations between the expression of inflammatory markers and the antibody responses, which can also serve as early clinical markers.
- COVID-19,
- severity,
- serum IgG subclasses,
- blood tests
Citation: Y. Desheva, T. Shvedova, A. Lerner, P. Kudar, O. Kopteva, D. Petrachkova, I. Koroleva, G. Leontieva, S. Ponkratov, A. Suvorov. Exploring immune response and lab markers across COVID-19 severity levels[J]. AIMS Allergy and Immunology, 2024, 8(4): 216-231. doi: 10.3934/Allergy.2024013

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Abstract

This retrospective cohort study investigated antigen-specific antibody responses to SARS-CoV-2 and laboratory markers in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients of varying severities. Serum or plasma samples collected early in the pandemic were analyzed for the presence of IgG antibodies and IgG subclasses which target the recombinant spike (S) and nucleocapsid (N) proteins of SARS-CoV-2. Correlation analyses were conducted to assess the possible relationship between the IgG subclasses to SARS-CoV-2 proteins, inflammatory markers, and the severity of the disease. It was shown that the severity of the disease positively correlated with the C-reactive protein (CRP), but most of all with the neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR) levels. IgG titers against the S- and N-proteins decreased in the most severe COVID-19 cases, which potentially attributed to a delayed IgG formation compared to milder infections. The presence of anti-spike IgG displayed a medium negative correlation trend (not statistically significant, which might be due to the small sample size in our study) with laboratory markers (such as CRP, Fibrinogen, Degree) which are suggestive of infection severity. anti-S IgG correlated positively but weakly with the serum histamine levels. The presence of anti-N IgG at the time of hospitalization correlated with the subsequent outcome. At the same time, anti-N IgG1 correlated with the detection of the viral RNA in the blood. Thus, seroconversion may occur later in patients with a more severe pneumonia. The summary data suggests correlations between the expression of inflammatory markers and the antibody responses, which can also serve as early clinical markers.

Acknowledgments

This research was done within the framework of applied scientific research, topic: FGWG-2023-0002 The authors acknowledge Dr. Valentina Smelova, Analytics Development Manager (IP ‘Valentina Smelova Consulting’) for her excellent support in statistical processing and graphical representation of the data obtained.

Author contributions

Conceptualization, Y.D. and A.L.; methodology, G.L.; validation, G.L., and I.K.; formal analysis, D.P.; investigation, P.C., O.K.; data curation, T.Sh. and S.P.; writing—original draft preparation, Y.D.; writing—review and editing, Y.D. and G.L.; supervision, A.S.; project administration, Y.D. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Conflicts of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Institutional review board statement

The study was approved by the Local Ethics committee of the FSBSI “IEM” (protocol 3/20 from 06/05/2020).

Informed consent statement

All patients signed written informed consent upon admission to the hospital.

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