Tasha Morales
Profile Url: tasha-morales
Researcher at TPMG Regional Reference Laboratory, Kaiser Permanente Northern California
0
0
0
Video Abstract (AI generated)
Paper
Preprint
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections can cause Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), which manifests with a range of severities from mild illness to life threatening pneumonia and multi-organ failure. Severe COVID-19 is characterized by an inflammatory signature including high levels of inflammatory cytokines, alveolar inflammatory infiltrates and vascular microthrombi. Here we show that severe COVID-19 patients produced a unique serologic signature, including increased IgG1 with afucosylated Fc glycans. This Fc modification on SARS-CoV-2 IgGs enhanced interactions with the activating Fc{gamma}R, Fc{gamma}RIIIa; when incorporated into immune complexes, Fc afucosylation enhanced production of inflammatory cytokines by monocytes, including IL-6 and TNF. These results show that disease severity in COVID-19 correlates with the presence of afucosylated IgG1, a pro-inflammatory IgG Fc modification.