Presenter of 1 Presentation
O030 - THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN AUTOANTIBODIES TARGETING GPCRS AND RAS-RELATED MOLECULES ASSOCIATES WITH COVID-19 SEVERITY (ID 336)
Abstract
Background and Aims
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) can manifest features resembling systemic autoimmune diseases, including the presence of autoantibodies that are still poorly characterized. Here we aimed to perform a cross-sectional study of 246 individuals to determine whether autoantibodies targeting G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) and renin-angiotensin system (RAS)-related molecules associate with the clinical severity of COVID-19.
Methods
We assessed the serum levels of these autoantibodies in patients with COVID-19 versus healthy controls.
Results
Patients with moderate and severe disease exhibited higher autoantibody levels than healthy controls and those with mild COVID-19 disease. Machine learning classification identified anti-GPCR autoantibodies targeting the chemokine receptor CXCR3 and the RAS-related molecule AGTR1 as having the strongest association with disease severity. Moreover, while the autoantibody network signatures were relatively conserved in patients with mild COVID-19 relative to healthy controls, they were disrupted in patients with moderate disease severity and even more disrupted in patients with severe disease.
Conclusions
Our results are in line with our previous work showing that anti-GPCR antibodies are natural components of human biology that become dysregulated in inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, suggesting novel molecular pathways for therapeutic intervention in COVID-19 patients.