Serum inflammatory factors are positively correlated with the production of specific antibodies in coronavirus disease 2019 patients

Abstract

The ongoing spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) constitutes an international concern on an unprecedented scale. To date, over 23 million people have been diagnosed with COVID19 worldwide, and this disease has caused more than 800,000 deaths. Hyperinflammation elicited by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has been reported to contribute to illness severity and death.1,2 Humoral immune responses play important roles in therapy and prophylaxis for SARS-CoV-2 infection. Since the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the SARS-CoV-2 spike (S) glycoprotein binds to angiotensinconverting enzyme 2 to trigger virion endocytosis, antibodies against this domain may be able to neutralize SARS-CoV-2 and possibly provide protective immunity in COVID-19 patients.3 Clinical trials investigating the administration of convalescent plasma and the interleukin (IL)-6 antagonist tocilizumab to treat COVID-19 patients are currently underway,4 but the overly robust expansion of antibody-secreting cells (ASCs) could play a major role in the pathogenicity of SARS-CoV-2 in COVID-19 patients.5 Thus, a detailed characterization of the associations between humoral immune responses and inflammatory factors could result in a better understanding of SARS-CoV-2-host interactions in COVID-19 patients.