A Short Series of Case Reports of COVID-19 in Immunocompromised Patients.
Mitali MishraAleena ZahraLokendra V ChauhanRiddhi ThakkarJames NgShreyas JoshiEric D SpitzerLuis A MarcosW Ian LipkinNischay MishraPublished in: Viruses (2022)
Immunocompromised individuals are at risk of prolonged SARS-CoV-2 infection due to weaker immunity, co-morbidities, and lowered vaccine effectiveness, which may evolve highly mutated variants of SARS-CoV-2. Nonetheless, limited data are available on the immune responses elicited by SARS-CoV-2 infection, reinfections, and vaccinations with emerging variants in immunocompromised patients. We analyzed clinical samples that were opportunistically collected from eight immunocompromised individuals for mutations in SARS-CoV-2 genomes, neutralizing antibody (NAb) titers against different SARS-CoV-2 variants, and the identification of immunoreactive epitopes using a high-throughput coronavirus peptide array. The viral genome analysis revealed two SARS-CoV-2 variants (20A from a deceased patient and an Alpha variant from a recovered patient) with an eight amino-acid (aa) deletion within the N-terminal domain (NTD) of the surface glycoprotein. A higher NAb titer was present against the prototypic USA/WA1/2020 strain in vaccinated immunocompromised patients. NAb titer was absent against the Omicron variant and the cultured virus of the 20A variant with eight aa deletions in non-vaccinated patients. Our data suggest that fatal SARS-CoV-2 infections may occur in immunocompromised individuals even with high titers of NAb post-vaccination. Moreover, persistent SARS-CoV-2 infection may lead to the emergence of newer variants with additional mutations favoring the survival and fitness of the pathogen that include deletions in NAb binding sites in the SARS-CoV-2 surface glycoprotein.
Keyphrases
- sars cov
- respiratory syndrome coronavirus
- end stage renal disease
- ejection fraction
- chronic kidney disease
- newly diagnosed
- immune response
- randomized controlled trial
- high throughput
- prognostic factors
- copy number
- systematic review
- dna methylation
- peritoneal dialysis
- advanced non small cell lung cancer
- gene expression
- high resolution
- intensive care unit
- endothelial cells
- electronic health record
- single cell
- dendritic cells
- epidermal growth factor receptor
- free survival