Wen Zhu, Yongwei Zheng, Mei Yu, Nathan Witman, Lu Zhou, Jianhui Wei, Yongguang Zhang, Paytsar Topchyan, Christine Nguyen, David Wang, Rae Janecke, Anand Padmanabhan, Lisa Baumann Kreuziger, Gilbert C White, Parameswaran Hari, Tongjun Gu, Alexander T Fields, Lucy Z Kornblith, Richard Aster, Jieqing Zhu, Weiguo Cui, Shawn Jobe, Mary Beth Graham, Demin Wang, Renren Wen
{"title":"Prothrombotic antibodies targeting the spike protein's receptor-binding domain in severe COVID-19.","authors":"Wen Zhu, Yongwei Zheng, Mei Yu, Nathan Witman, Lu Zhou, Jianhui Wei, Yongguang Zhang, Paytsar Topchyan, Christine Nguyen, David Wang, Rae Janecke, Anand Padmanabhan, Lisa Baumann Kreuziger, Gilbert C White, Parameswaran Hari, Tongjun Gu, Alexander T Fields, Lucy Z Kornblith, Richard Aster, Jieqing Zhu, Weiguo Cui, Shawn Jobe, Mary Beth Graham, Demin Wang, Renren Wen","doi":"10.1182/blood.2024025010","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Abstract: </strong>Thromboembolic complication is common in severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), leading to an investigation into the presence of prothrombotic antibodies akin to those found in heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT). In a study of samples from 130 hospitalized patients, collected 3.6 days after COVID-19 diagnosis, 80% had immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies recognizing complexes of heparin and platelet factor 4 (PF4; PF4/H), and 41% had antibodies inducing PF4-dependent P-selectin expression in CpG oligodeoxynucleotide-treated normal platelets. Unlike HIT, both PF4/H-reactive and platelet-activating antibodies were found in patients with COVID-19 regardless of recent heparin exposure. Notably, PF4/H-reactive IgG antibodies correlated with those targeting the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 spike protein. Moreover, introducing exogenous RBD to or removing RBD-reactive IgG from COVID-19 plasma or IgG purified from COVID-19 plasma significantly reduced their ability to activate platelets. RBD-specific antibodies capable of platelet activation were cloned from peripheral blood B cells of patients with COVID-19. These antibodies possessed sequence motifs in the heavy-chain complementarity-determining region 3 (HCDR3), resembling those identified in pathogenic HIT antibodies. Furthermore, IgG+ B cells having these HCDR3 signatures were markedly expanded in patients with severe COVID-19. Importantly, platelet-activating antibodies present in patients with COVID-19 were associated with a specific elevation of platelet α-granule proteins in the plasma and showed a positive correlation with markers for inflammation and tissue damage, suggesting a functionality of these antibodies in patients. The demonstration of functional and structural similarities between certain RBD-specific antibodies in patients with COVID-19 and pathogenic antibodies typical of HIT suggests a novel mechanism by which RBD-specific antibodies might contribute to thrombosis in COVID-19.</p>","PeriodicalId":9102,"journal":{"name":"Blood","volume":" ","pages":"635-647"},"PeriodicalIF":21.0000,"publicationDate":"2025-02-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11811936/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Blood","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1182/blood.2024025010","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"HEMATOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Abstract: Thromboembolic complication is common in severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), leading to an investigation into the presence of prothrombotic antibodies akin to those found in heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT). In a study of samples from 130 hospitalized patients, collected 3.6 days after COVID-19 diagnosis, 80% had immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies recognizing complexes of heparin and platelet factor 4 (PF4; PF4/H), and 41% had antibodies inducing PF4-dependent P-selectin expression in CpG oligodeoxynucleotide-treated normal platelets. Unlike HIT, both PF4/H-reactive and platelet-activating antibodies were found in patients with COVID-19 regardless of recent heparin exposure. Notably, PF4/H-reactive IgG antibodies correlated with those targeting the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 spike protein. Moreover, introducing exogenous RBD to or removing RBD-reactive IgG from COVID-19 plasma or IgG purified from COVID-19 plasma significantly reduced their ability to activate platelets. RBD-specific antibodies capable of platelet activation were cloned from peripheral blood B cells of patients with COVID-19. These antibodies possessed sequence motifs in the heavy-chain complementarity-determining region 3 (HCDR3), resembling those identified in pathogenic HIT antibodies. Furthermore, IgG+ B cells having these HCDR3 signatures were markedly expanded in patients with severe COVID-19. Importantly, platelet-activating antibodies present in patients with COVID-19 were associated with a specific elevation of platelet α-granule proteins in the plasma and showed a positive correlation with markers for inflammation and tissue damage, suggesting a functionality of these antibodies in patients. The demonstration of functional and structural similarities between certain RBD-specific antibodies in patients with COVID-19 and pathogenic antibodies typical of HIT suggests a novel mechanism by which RBD-specific antibodies might contribute to thrombosis in COVID-19.
期刊介绍:
Blood, the official journal of the American Society of Hematology, published online and in print, provides an international forum for the publication of original articles describing basic laboratory, translational, and clinical investigations in hematology. Primary research articles will be published under the following scientific categories: Clinical Trials and Observations; Gene Therapy; Hematopoiesis and Stem Cells; Immunobiology and Immunotherapy scope; Myeloid Neoplasia; Lymphoid Neoplasia; Phagocytes, Granulocytes and Myelopoiesis; Platelets and Thrombopoiesis; Red Cells, Iron and Erythropoiesis; Thrombosis and Hemostasis; Transfusion Medicine; Transplantation; and Vascular Biology. Papers can be listed under more than one category as appropriate.