Abstract
The clinical course of COVID-19 is very heterogeneous: most infected individuals can be managed in an outpatient setting, but a substantial proportion of patients requires intensive care, resulting in a high rate of fatalities. We performed a biomarker study to assess the impact of prior infections with seasonal coronaviruses on COVID-19 severity. Sixty patients with confirmed COVID-19 infections were included (age 30–82; 52 males, 8 females): 19 inpatients with critical disease, 16 inpatients with severe or moderate disease, and 25 outpatients. Patients with critical disease had significantly lower levels of anti-HCoV OC43-NP (P = 0.016) and HCoV HKU1-NP (P = 0.023) antibodies at the first encounter compared to other COVID-19 patients. Our results indicate that prior infections with seasonal coronaviruses might protect against a severe course of disease.
Highlights
At present, approximately 10–20% of COVID-19 patients need medical treatment in hospitals, and approximately 5% need longterm treatment in intensive care units (ICU)
Partial immunity against SARS-CoV-2 might contribute to this phenomenon, as recently discussed in reports about cross-reactivity against SARS-CoV-2, where T-cell responses to SARS-CoV-2 in unexposed human individuals were described (Grifoni et al, 2020; Le Bert et al, 2020; Mateus et al, 2020)
According to the visual determination of band intensities, levels of HCoV OC43- and HKU1-specific immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies were significantly lower for COVID-19 inpatients with critical disease than all other patients (P = 0.016 for OC43; P = 0.023 for HKU1; Wilcoxon test with ordinal measurement data)
Summary
Approximately 10–20% of COVID-19 patients need medical treatment in hospitals, and approximately 5% need longterm treatment in intensive care units (ICU). The majority of COVID-19 patients can be managed in an outpatient setting. Young and seemingly healthy individuals are at risk to die from COVID-19 infections. At present, this heterogeneity of the disease course is not well understood. Patients with a mild course of COVID-19 reported frequent contact with small children Seasonal coronaviruses mainly cause mild respiratory tract infections and are frequently found in children. The objective of this work is to assess if prior infections with a seasonal coronavirus–as indicated by antibody levels–modify the disease course of COVID-19
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