Abstract
The adaptive immune response to severe acute respiratory coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is important for vaccine development and in the recovery from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Men and cancer patients have been reported to be at higher risks of contracting the virus and developing the more severe forms of COVID-19. Prostate cancer (PCa) may be associated with both of these risks. We show that CD4+ T cells of SARS-CoV-2-unexposed patients with hormone-refractory (HR) metastatic PCa had decreased CD4+ T cell immune responses to antigens from SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein but not from the spiked glycoprotein of the ‘common cold’-associated human coronavirus 229E (HCoV-229E) as compared with healthy male volunteers who responded comparably to both HCoV-229E- and SARS-CoV-2-derived antigens. Moreover, the HCoV-229E spike glycoprotein antigen-elicited CD4+ T cell immune responses cross-reacted with the SARS-CoV-2 spiked glycoprotein antigens. PCa patients may have impaired responses to the vaccination, and the cross-reactivity can mediate antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE) of COVID-19. These findings highlight the potential for increased vulnerability of PCa patients to COVID-19.
Highlights
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has significantly affected the global human population
We show how T cells of a SARS-CoV-2-unexposed population of HR metastatic Prostate cancer (PCa) patients and healthy male volunteers responded to the pools of peptides derived from SARS-CoV-2 or HCoV-229E spike glycoproteins
The immune systems of the tested individuals were SARS-CoV-2-naive, and the levels of responsiveness of the CD4+ T cells to the SARSCoV-2 and HCoV-229E peptide pools were comparable in the tested subjects
Summary
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has significantly affected the global human population. The impact of the disease on the human population varies in different countries. Large groups of people are at high risk of developing severe or even fatal forms of the disease. These groups are often people with other comorbidities, one of which is cancer [3, 4]. Another significant factor that contributes to infection with severe acute respiratory system coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and severity of COVID-19 is gender; men have been found to be more likely than women to become infected with the virus and to develop severe forms of the
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