Epstein-Shuman Adam, Zhu Xianming, Hunt Joanne H, Fernandez Reinaldo E, Rozek Gracie M, Redd Andrew D, Gotthold Zoe A, Quiros Gabriel, Galiwango Ronald M, Kigozi Godfrey, Caturegli Patrizio, Ssekubugu Robert, Grabowski Mary K, Chang Larry W, Reynolds Steven J, Laeyendecker Oliver
Laboratory of Immunoregulation, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
Department of Pathology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
J Infect Public Health. 2025 Jun;18(6):102722. doi: 10.1016/j.jiph.2025.102722. Epub 2025 Mar 4.
Autoantibodies (AAbs) to interferon alpha, nuclear antigens, cardiolipin, and beta 2 glycoprotein 1, have been associated with COVID-19 severity. Despite relatively low COVID-19 morbidity and mortality in East and Central Africa, AAb prevalence in these populations remain understudied.
We evaluated AAb seroprevalence in 155 Ugandans, aged 40-50, using paired samples collected before and after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Among these, 117 had serological evidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection, and 38 did not. To assess the effect of SARS-CoV-2 infection on AAb prevalence, we: 1) longitudinally compared AAb prevalence before and after evidence of infection, and 2) cross-sectionally compared AAb prevalence between those with and without infection evidence at both timepoints. Associations between AAbs and health characteristics were also explored.
There was no difference in AAb prevalence between individuals with and without evidence of infection, nor any longitudinal change after evidence of infection. However, we observed a higher-than-expected prevalence anti-beta 2 glycoprotein 1. Additionally, anti-cardiolipin was significantly associated with reported hypertension.
Our findings contribute to the limited literature on AAb prevalence in East Africa and suggest that SARS-CoV-2 does not induce these AAbs.
针对干扰素α、核抗原、心磷脂和β2糖蛋白1的自身抗体（AAb）与新冠病毒疾病（COVID-19）的严重程度相关。尽管东非和中非的COVID-19发病率和死亡率相对较低，但这些人群中AAb的流行情况仍未得到充分研究。
我们使用在COVID-19大流行开始之前和之后收集的配对样本，评估了155名年龄在40至50岁之间的乌干达人的AAb血清阳性率。其中，117人有严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒2（SARS-CoV-2）感染的血清学证据，38人没有。为了评估SARS-CoV-2感染对AAb流行率的影响，我们：1）纵向比较了感染证据出现前后的AAb流行率，以及2）在两个时间点横断面比较了有和没有感染证据的人群之间的AAb流行率。还探讨了AAb与健康特征之间的关联。
有感染证据和没有感染证据的个体之间的AAb流行率没有差异，感染证据出现后也没有任何纵向变化。然而，我们观察到抗β2糖蛋白1的流行率高于预期。此外，抗心磷脂与报告的高血压显著相关。
我们的研究结果为东非AAb流行率的有限文献做出了贡献，并表明SARS-CoV-2不会诱导这些AAb。
