Partners in Crime: Autoantibodies Complicit in Covid-19 Pathogenesis Publisher Pubmed



Taghadosi M¹ ; Safarzadeh E² ; Asgarzadeh A³ ; Roghani SA^{4, 5} ; Shamsi A¹ ; Jalili C⁶ ; Assar S⁵ ; Soufivand P⁵ ; Pournazari M⁵ ; Feizollahi P¹ ; Nicknam MH^{7, 8} ; Asghariazar V⁹ ; Vaziri S¹⁰ ; Shahriari H¹¹ Show All Authors
Source: Reviews in Medical Virology Published:2023

Abstract

Autoantibodies (AABs) play a critical role in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases (AIDs) and serve as a diagnostic and prognostic tool in assessing these complex disorders. Viral infections have long been recognized as a principal environmental factor affecting the production of AABs and the development of autoimmunity. COVID-19 has primarily been considered a hyperinflammatory syndrome triggered by a cytokine storm. In the following, the role of maladaptive B cell response and AABs became more apparent in COVID-19 pathogenesis. The current review will primarily focus on the role of extrafollicular B cell response, Toll-like receptor-7 (TLR-7) activation, and neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) formation in the development of AABs following SARS-CoV-2 infection. In the following, this review will clarify how these AABs dysregulate immune response to SARS-CoV-2 by disrupting cytokine function and triggering neutrophil hyper-reactivity. Finally, the pathologic effects of these AABs will be further described in COVID-19 associate clinical manifestations, including venous and arterial thrombosis, a multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), and recently described post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC) or long-COVID. © 2022 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.