Angiotensin II receptor I auto-antibodies following SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Publication Title
PLoS One
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-1-2021
Keywords
washington; seattle; isb; system; Adult; COVID-19; Graft Rejection; Humans; Kidney Transplantation; Male; Middle Aged; Receptor, Angiotensin, Type 1
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is associated with endothelial activation and coagulopathy, which may be related to pre-existing or infection-induced pro-thrombotic autoantibodies such as those targeting angiotensin II type I receptor (AT1R-Ab).
METHODS: We compared prevalence and levels of AT1R-Ab in COVID-19 cases with mild or severe disease to age and sex matched negative controls utilizing multivariate logistic and quantile regression adjusted for comorbidities including hypertension, diabetes, and heart disease.
RESULTS: There were trends toward increased prevalence (50% vs. 33%, p = 0.1) and level of AT1R-Ab (median 9.8 vs. 6.1 U/mL, p = 0.06) in all cases versus controls. When considered by COVID-19 disease severity, there was a trend toward increased prevalence of AT1R-Ab (55% vs. 31%, p = 0.07), as well as significantly higher AT1R-Ab levels (median 10.7 vs. 5.9 U/mL, p = 0.03) amongst individuals with mild COVID-19 versus matched controls. In contrast, the prevalence (42% vs. 37%, p = 0.9) and level (both medians 6.7 U/mL, p = 0.9) of AT1R-Ab amongst those with severe COVID-19 did not differ from matched controls.
CONCLUSIONS: These findings support an association between COVID-19 and AT1R-Ab, emphasizing that vascular pathology may be present in individuals with mild COVID-19 as well as those with severe disease.
Specialty/Research Institute
Infectious Diseases
Specialty/Research Institute
Institute for Systems Biology
