Immunoserologic Detection and Diagnostic Relevance of Cross-Reactive Autoantibodies in Coronavirus Disease 2019 Patients
María Teresa Schiaffino, Marisa Di Natale, Elena García‐Martínez, J. Navarro, José Luís Muñoz-Blanco, Pablo Demelo‐Rodríguez, Paloma Sánchez‐Mateos
Abstract
BACKGROUND: During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, we detected a new immunofluorescence (IF) pattern in serum autoantibody (autoAb) screening of laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 patients. METHODS: The IF pattern was composed of liver and gastric mucosa staining on rat kidney/liver/stomach sections. RESULTS: We describe 12 patients positive for the cross-reactive antibody, compared with a negative group of 43 hospitalized COVID-19 patients, finding association with either neurologic or thrombotic complications. In sequential pre- and post-COVID-19 serum samples, we confirmed autoAb seroconversion. CONCLUSIONS: Our data indicate that autoAb screening in COVID-19 patients may be easily performed by IF and alert for autoreactive-mediated complications such as thrombotic or neurologic events.