IL-33 expression in response to SARS-CoV-2 correlates with seropositivity in COVID-19 convalescent individuals

Michal A. Stanczak, David E. Sanin, Petya Apostolova, Gabriele Nerz, Dimitrios Lampaki, Maike Hofmann, Daniel Steinmann, Marvin Krohn-Grimberghe, Robert Thimme, Gerhard Mittler, Cornelius F. Waller (), Edward J. Pearce () and Erika L. Pearce ()
Additional contact information
Michal A. Stanczak: Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics
David E. Sanin: Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics
Petya Apostolova: Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics
Gabriele Nerz: Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics
Dimitrios Lampaki: Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics
Maike Hofmann: Medical Center-University of Freiburg, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg
Daniel Steinmann: Medical Center-University of Freiburg, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg
Marvin Krohn-Grimberghe: University Heart Center Freiburg
Robert Thimme: Medical Center-University of Freiburg, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg
Gerhard Mittler: Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics
Cornelius F. Waller: Medical Center-University of Freiburg, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg
Edward J. Pearce: Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics
Erika L. Pearce: Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics

Nature Communications, 2021, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract Our understanding of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is still developing. We perform an observational study to investigate seroprevalence and immune responses in subjects professionally exposed to SARS-CoV-2 and their family members (155 individuals; ages 5–79 years). Seropositivity for SARS-CoV-2 Spike glycoprotein aligns with PCR results that confirm the previous infection. Anti-Spike IgG/IgM titers remain high 60 days post-infection and do not strongly associate with symptoms, except for fever. We analyze PBMCs from a subset of seropositive and seronegative adults. TLR7 agonist-activation reveals an increased population of IL-6+TNF-IL-1β+ monocytes, while SARS-CoV-2 peptide stimulation elicits IL-33, IL-6, IFNa2, and IL-23 expression in seropositive individuals. IL-33 correlates with CD4+ T cell activation in PBMCs from convalescent subjects and is likely due to T cell-mediated effects on IL-33-producing cells. IL-33 is associated with pulmonary infection and chronic diseases like asthma and COPD, but its role in COVID-19 is unknown. Analysis of published scRNAseq data of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) from patients with mild to severe COVID-19 reveals a population of IL-33-producing cells that increases with the disease. Together these findings show that IL-33 production is linked to SARS-CoV-2 infection and warrant further investigation of IL-33 in COVID-19 pathogenesis and immunity.

Date: 2021
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-22449-w Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:12:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-021-22449-w

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-22449-w

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().