TY - JOUR
T1 - Coinfection of tuberculosis and COVID-19 limits the ability to in vitro respond to SARS-CoV-2
AU - Petrone, Linda
AU - Petruccioli, Elisa
AU - Vanini, Valentina
AU - Cuzzi, Gilda
AU - Gualano, Gina
AU - Vittozzi, Pietro
AU - Nicastri, Emanuele
AU - Maffongelli, Gaetano
AU - Grifoni, Alba
AU - Sette, Alessandro
AU - Ippolito, Giuseppe
AU - Migliori, Giovanni Battista
AU - Palmieri, Fabrizio
AU - Goletti, Delia
N1 - Funding Information:
This study has been funded by Line one-Ricerca Corrente ‘Infezioni Emergenti e Riemergenti’, by Line four-Ricerca Corrente, by the projects COVID 2020-12371675 and COVID-2020-12371735, all funded by Italian Ministry of Health and by the NIH NIAID contract Nr. 75N9301900065 to Alessandro Sette and Daniela Weiskopf.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Author(s)
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - Objectives: The interaction of COVID-19 and tuberculosis (TB) are still poor characterized. Here we evaluated the immune response specific for Micobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) and SARS-CoV-2 using a whole-blood-based assay-platform in COVID-19 patients either with TB or latent TB infection (LTBI). Methods: We evaluated IFN-γ level in plasma from whole-blood stimulated with Mtb antigens in the Quantiferon-Plus format or with peptides derived from SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, Wuhan-Hu-1 isolate (CD4-S). Results: We consecutively enrolled 63 COVID-19, 10 TB-COVID-19 and 11 LTBI-COVID-19 patients. IFN-γ response to Mtb-antigens was significantly associated to TB status and therefore it was higher in TB-COVID-19 and LTBI-COVID-19 patients compared to COVID-19 patients (p ≤ 0.0007). Positive responses against CD4-S were found in 35/63 COVID-19 patients, 7/11 LTBI-COVID-19 and only 2/10 TB-COVID-19 patients. Interestingly, the responders in the TB-COVID-19 group were less compared to COVID-19 and LTBI-COVID-19 groups (p = 0.037 and 0.044, respectively). Moreover, TB-COVID-19 patients showed the lowest quantitative IFN-γ response to CD4-S compared to COVID-19-patients (p = 0.0336) and LTBI-COVID-19 patients (p = 0.0178). Conclusions: Our data demonstrate that COVID-19 patients either TB or LTBI have a low ability to build an immune response to SARS-CoV-2 while retaining the ability to respond to Mtb-specific antigens.
AB - Objectives: The interaction of COVID-19 and tuberculosis (TB) are still poor characterized. Here we evaluated the immune response specific for Micobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) and SARS-CoV-2 using a whole-blood-based assay-platform in COVID-19 patients either with TB or latent TB infection (LTBI). Methods: We evaluated IFN-γ level in plasma from whole-blood stimulated with Mtb antigens in the Quantiferon-Plus format or with peptides derived from SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, Wuhan-Hu-1 isolate (CD4-S). Results: We consecutively enrolled 63 COVID-19, 10 TB-COVID-19 and 11 LTBI-COVID-19 patients. IFN-γ response to Mtb-antigens was significantly associated to TB status and therefore it was higher in TB-COVID-19 and LTBI-COVID-19 patients compared to COVID-19 patients (p ≤ 0.0007). Positive responses against CD4-S were found in 35/63 COVID-19 patients, 7/11 LTBI-COVID-19 and only 2/10 TB-COVID-19 patients. Interestingly, the responders in the TB-COVID-19 group were less compared to COVID-19 and LTBI-COVID-19 groups (p = 0.037 and 0.044, respectively). Moreover, TB-COVID-19 patients showed the lowest quantitative IFN-γ response to CD4-S compared to COVID-19-patients (p = 0.0336) and LTBI-COVID-19 patients (p = 0.0178). Conclusions: Our data demonstrate that COVID-19 patients either TB or LTBI have a low ability to build an immune response to SARS-CoV-2 while retaining the ability to respond to Mtb-specific antigens.
KW - Co-infection
KW - COVID-19
KW - IFN-gamma response
KW - M. tuberculosis
KW - Tuberculosis
KW - Whole blood assay
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85102636174&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85102636174&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.ijid.2021.02.090
DO - 10.1016/j.ijid.2021.02.090
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85102636174
SP - 1
EP - 6
JO - International Journal of Infectious Diseases
JF - International Journal of Infectious Diseases
SN - 1201-9712
ER -