Anti-Endothelial Cell Antibodies are not frequently elevated in hospitalized patients with COVID-19

Brandon Michael Henry; Stefanie Benoit; Jens Vikse; Emmanuel  Favaloro; Justin Benoit; Giuseppe Lippi

doi:10.23750/abm.v93i1.10799

Anti-Endothelial Cell Antibodies are not frequently elevated in hospitalized patients with COVID-19

Authors

Brandon Michael Henry Disease Intervention and Prevention and Population Health Programs, Texas Biomedical Research Institute, San Antonio, TX, USA and Division of Nephrology and Hypertension, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, OH, USA
Stefanie Benoit Division of Nephrology and Hypertension, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, OH, USA
Jens Vikse Clinical Immunology Unit, Stavanger University Hospital, Stavanger, Norway
Emmanuel Favaloro Haematology, Sydney Centres for Thrombosis and Haemostasis, Institute of Clinical Pathology and Medical Research (ICPMR), NSW Health Pathology, Westmead Hospital, Westmead NSW, Australia
Justin Benoit Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, USA
Giuseppe Lippi Section of Clinical Biochemistry, Department of Neuroscience, Biomedicine and Movement, University of Verona, Verona, Italy

DOI: https://doi.org/10.23750/abm.v93i1.10799

Keywords:

SARS-CoV-2, autoantibodies, coagulopathy

Abstract

COVID-19 is now established to be associated with a thrombotic phenomenon, now called COVID-19 associated coagulopathy (CAC). Anti-Endothelial Cell Antibodies (AECA) are a heterogenous group of autoantibodies targeting various endothelial cell antigens or antigens adhering to endothelial cells, They are commonly observed in a variety of auto-immune and rheumatologic conditions, and were observed in patients with the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2005. We aimed to assess AECA status in patients with COVID-19 and their potential contributing role to endothelial injury and CAC. AECA identification was a relatively infrequent finding in COVID-19 patients on admission, and their presence, albeit in only 2/33 patients, was not associated with disease severity. However, as the autoantibodies were only measured at admission, we cannot exclude the possibility of pathogenic AECA developing later in the course of diseaseFurther studies using additional methods are needed to evaluate the presence and potential pathogenic role of AECA in later stages of COVID-19.

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