Abstract
BackgroundChildren have a low rate of COVID-19 and secondary severe multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS) but present a high prevalence of symptomatic seasonal coronavirus infections.AimWe tested if prior infections by seasonal coronaviruses (HCoV) NL63, HKU1, 229E or OC43 as assessed by serology, provide cross-protective immunity against SARS-CoV-2 infection.MethodsWe set a cross-sectional observational multicentric study in pauci- or asymptomatic children hospitalised in Paris during the first wave for reasons other than COVID (hospitalised children (HOS), n = 739) plus children presenting with MIS (n = 36). SARS-CoV-2 antibodies directed against the nucleoprotein (N) and S1 and S2 domains of the spike (S) proteins were monitored by an in-house luciferase immunoprecipitation system assay. We randomly selected 69 SARS-CoV-2-seropositive patients (including 15 with MIS) and 115 matched SARS-CoV-2-seronegative patients (controls (CTL)). We measured antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 and HCoV as evidence for prior corresponding infections and assessed if SARS-CoV-2 prevalence of infection and levels of antibody responses were shaped by prior seasonal coronavirus infections.ResultsPrevalence of HCoV infections were similar in HOS, MIS and CTL groups. Antibody levels against HCoV were not significantly different in the three groups and were not related to the level of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in the HOS and MIS groups. SARS-CoV-2 antibody profiles were different between HOS and MIS children.ConclusionPrior infection by seasonal coronaviruses, as assessed by serology, does not interfere with SARS-CoV-2 infection and related MIS in children.
Highlights
Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is caused by infection with severe acute respiratory coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), a betacoronavirus of the subgenus Sarbecovirus [1], which has expanded worldwide since its emergence in China at the end of 2019
The aim of this study was to analyse the impact of endemic seasonal coronavirus infection on SARSCoV-2 infection in children by investigating in depth the typology of respective humoral responses, based on a luciferase immunoprecipitation system (LIPS) assay targeting the spike (S) and the nucleoprotein (N) of SARS-CoV-2 [22] and the four seasonal coronaviruses
There was no case of COVID-19 symptoms recorded before the onset of multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS) and MIS-P patients were sampled at the time of MIS symptom onset
Summary
Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is caused by infection with severe acute respiratory coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), a betacoronavirus of the subgenus Sarbecovirus [1], which has expanded worldwide since its emergence in China at the end of 2019. It has been suggested that children’s susceptibility to infection might be low [5] This might be related to infections with seasonal human coronaviruses (HCoV) which are frequent at a very young age and result in mild respiratory infections [14,15]. They could lead to cross-protective immunity in children, mediated either by cross-binding or cross-neutralising antibodies [16] or by T-cell responses that target epitopes shared by SARS-CoV-2 and HCoV [17,18]. Children have a low rate of COVID-19 and secondary severe multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS) but present a high prevalence of symptomatic seasonal coronavirus infections. Conclusion: Prior infection by seasonal coronaviruses, as assessed by serology, does not interfere with SARS-CoV-2 infection and related MIS in children
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