Is there a link between pre-existing antibodies acquired due to childhood vaccinations or past infections and COVID-19? A case control study

PeerJ

article

Bilge Sumbul¹  Hilmi Erdem Sumbul²  Ramazan Azim Okyay³  Erdinç Gülümsek²  Ahmet Rıza Şahin⁴  Baris Boral⁵  Burhan Fatih Koçyiğit⁶  Mostafa Alfishawy⁷  Jeffrey Gold⁸  ALİ Muhittin Tasdogan⁹ 

[1] Department of Medical Microbiology, Bezmialem Vakıf University, Faculty of Medicine;Department of Internal Medicine, University of Health Sciences, Adana Health Practice and Research Center;Department of Public Health, Kahramanmaraş Sütçü İmam University, Faculty of Medicine;Department of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology, Kahramanmaraş Sütçü İmam University, Faculty of Medicine;Department of Microbiology, University of Health Sciences, Adana Health Practice and Research Center;Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Kahramanmaraş Sütçü İmam University, Faculty of Medicine;Infectious Diseases Consultants and Academic Researchers of Egypt;World Organization;Department of Anesthesiology and Reanimation, Hasan Kalyoncu University, Faculty of Health Sciences

关键词: COVID-19;    Cross-protection;    Antibody titers;    Pandemic;   

DOI  :  10.7717/peerj.10910

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Inra

【 摘 要 】

Background There is growing evidence indicating that children are less affected from COVID-19. Some authors speculate that childhood vaccinations may provide some cross-protection against COVID-19. In this study, our aim was to compare the circulating antibody titers for multiple childhood vaccine antigens, as an indicator of the state of immune memory between patients with COVID-19 and healthy controls, with a specific aim to identify the association between disease severity and antibody titrations which may indicate a protective function related to vaccine or disease induced memory. Methods This study is a case-control study including 53 patients with COVID-19 and 40 healthy volunteers. COVID-19 severity was divided into three groups: asymptomatic, mild and severe. We measured the same set of antibody titers for vaccine antigens, and a set of biochemical and infection markers, in both the case and control groups. Results Rubella (p = 0.003), pneumococcus (p = 0.002), and Bordetella pertussis (p < 0.0001) titers were found to be significantly lower in the case group than the control group. There was a significant decline in pneumococcus titers with severity of disease (p = 0.021) and a significant association with disease severity for Bordetella pertussis titers (p = 0.014) among COVID patients. Levels of AST, procalcitonin, ferritin and D-dimer significantly increased with the disease severity. Discussion Our study supports the hypothesis that pre-existing immune memory, as monitored using circulating antibodies, acquired from childhood vaccinations, or past infections confer some protection against COVID-19. Randomized controlled studies are needed to support a definitive conclusion.

【 授权许可】

CC BY