Elevated Humoral Immune Response to SARS-CoV-2 at High Altitudes Revealed by an Anti-RBD “In-House” ELISA

Frontiers in Medicine

Carolina Maldonado Galdeano¹  Silvia Inés Cazorla¹  Gabriela del Valle Perdigón¹  Conrado Juan Llapur²  Gabriela Apfelbaum³  Sergio Benjamín Socias⁴  Esteban Vera Pingitore⁴  Silvia Adriana Navarro⁴  Rosana Chehín⁴  Rodrigo Hernán Tomas-Grau⁴  Diego Ploper⁴  César Luis Ávila⁴  Silvina Chaves⁴  Agustín Stagnetto⁴  Mónica Aguilar López⁵  Dardo Costas⁵  Patricia Aznar⁵  María Elena Alcorta⁵  Isolina Flores⁵  Rossana Elena Chahla⁶  Dar Heinze⁷  Gustavo Mostoslavsky⁷  Raul Mostoslavsky⁸ 

[1] Centro de Referencia para Lactobacilos, Consejo Nacional de Investigación Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Tucumán, Argentina;Departamento de Residencias, Dirección General de Recursos Humanos (DGRRHH), Ministerio de Salud, Tucumán, Argentina;Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Nacional de Tucumán, Tucumán, Argentina;Instituto de Medicina Molecular y Celular Aplicada, Universidad Nacional de Tucumán-Consejo Nacional de Investigación Científicas y Técnicas- Sistema Provincial de Salud (UNT-CONICET-SIPROSA), Tucumán, Argentina;Laboratorio de Salud Pública, Sistema Provincial de Salud, Hospital Néstor Kirchner, Tucumán, Argentina;Ministerio de Salud Pública de Tucumán, Tucumán, Argentina;Section of Gastroenterology, Department of Medicine, Center for Regenerative Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, United States;The Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States;

关键词: COVID-19;    high altitude;    SARS-CoV-2;    RBD;    ELISA;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fmed.2021.720988

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) has caused a global pandemic with dramatic health and socioeconomic consequences. The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) challenges health systems to quickly respond by developing new diagnostic strategies that contribute to identify infected individuals, monitor infections, perform contact-tracing, and limit the spread of the virus. In this brief report, we developed a highly sensitive, specific, and precise “In-House” ELISA to correctly discriminate previously SARS-CoV-2-infected and non-infected individuals and study population seroprevalence. Among 758 individuals evaluated for anti-SARS-CoV-2 serology in the province of Tucumán, Argentina, we found a weak correlation between antibodies elicited against the RBD, the receptor-binding domain of the Spike protein, and the nucleocapsid (N) antigens of this virus. Additionally, we detected mild levels of anti-RBD IgG antibodies in 33.6% of individuals diagnosed with COVID-19, while only 19% showed sufficient antibody titers to be considered as plasma donors. No differences in IgG anti-RBD titers were found between women and men, neither in between different age groups ranging from 18 to 60. Surprisingly, individuals from a high altitude village displayed elevated and longer lasting anti-RBD titers compared to those from a lower altitude city. To our knowledge, this is the first report correlating altitude with increased humoral immune response against SARS-CoV-2 infection.

【 授权许可】

Unknown