Title
A Short Series of Case Reports of COVID-19 in Immunocompromised Patients
Date Issued
01 May 2022
Access level
open access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Mishra M.
Zahra A.
Chauhan L.V.
Thakkar R.
Ng J.
Joshi S.
Spitzer E.D.
Lipkin W.I.
Mishra N.
Universidad de Stony Brook
Publisher(s)
MDPI
Abstract
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 immuno-compromised 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 epi-topes 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 glycopro-tein. 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.
Volume
14
Issue
5
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Epidemiología
Políticas de salud, Servicios de salud
Subjects
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85129914540
PubMed ID
Source
Viruses
ISSN of the container
19994915
Source funding
Ting Tsung and Wei Fong Chao Family Foundation
Sources of information:
Directorio de Producción Científica
Scopus