Increased Presence of Antibodies against Type I Interferons and Human Endogenous Retrovirus W in Intensive Care Unit COVID-19 Patients
Elena Rita Simula, Maria Antonietta Manca, Marta Noli, Seyedesomaye Jasemi, Stefano Ruberto, Sergio Uzzau, Salvatore Rubino, Pietro Manca, Leonardo A. Sechi
Abstract
In this work, we report the increased presence of IFN autoantibodies in correlation with HERV-W-env autoantibodies in ICU COVID-19 patients. The novelty of the results is in the association of these IFN autoantibodies with autoantibodies against HERV-W-env, a protein recently discovered to be overexpressed in lymphocytes of COVID-19 patients and correlated with severe disease and pneumonia. Type I IFNs are part of a complex cross-regulatory network; however, in a small percentage of cases, the increase in autoantibodies against these proteins may lead to damage to the host instead of protection against infectious diseases.