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Post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 (PASC) is a significant public health concern. We describe Patient Reported Outcomes (PROs) on 590 participants prospectively assessed from hospital admission for COVID-19 through one year after discharge. Modeling identified 4 PRO clusters based on reported deficits (minimal, physical, mental/cognitive, and multidomain), supporting heterogenous clinical presentations in PASC, with sub-phenotypes associated with female sex and distinctive comorbidities. During the acute phase of disease, a higher respiratory SARS-CoV-2 viral burden and lower Receptor Binding Domain and Spike antibody titers were associated with both the physical predominant and the multidomain deficit clusters. A lower frequency of circulating B lymphocytes by mass cytometry (CyTOF) was observed in the multidomain deficit cluster. Circulating fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) was significantly elevated in the mental/cognitive predominant and the multidomain clusters. Future efforts to link PASC to acute anti-viral host responses may help to better target treatment and prevention of PASC., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

BACKGROUNDWhile B cell depletion is associated with attenuated antibody responses to SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccination, responses vary among individuals. Thus, elucidating the factors that affect immune responses after repeated vaccination is an important clinical need.METHODSWe evaluated the quality and magnitude of the T cell, B cell, antibody, and cytokine responses to a third dose of BNT162b2 or mRNA-1273 mRNA vaccine in patients with B cell depletion.RESULTSIn contrast with control individuals (n = 10), most patients on anti-CD20 therapy (n = 48) did not demonstrate an increase in spike-specific B cells or antibodies after a third dose of vaccine. A third vaccine elicited significantly increased frequencies of spike-specific non-naive T cells. A small subset of B cell-depleted individuals effectively produced spike-specific antibodies, and logistic regression models identified time since last anti-CD20 treatment and lower cumulative exposure to anti-CD20 mAbs as predictors of those having a serologic response. B cell-depleted patients who mounted an antibody response to 3 vaccine doses had persistent humoral immunity 6 months later.CONCLUSIONThese results demonstrate that serial vaccination strategies can be effective for a subset of B cell-depleted patients.FUNDINGThe NIH (R25 NS079193, P01 AI073748, U24 AI11867, R01 AI22220, UM 1HG009390, P01 AI039671, P50 CA121974, R01 CA227473, U01CA260507, 75N93019C00065, K24 AG042489), NIH HIPC Consortium (U19 AI089992), the National Multiple Sclerosis Society (CA 1061-A-18, RG-1802-30153), the Nancy Taylor Foundation for Chronic Diseases, Erase MS, and the Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center at Yale (P30 AG21342).

T cell-B cell interaction is the key immune response to protect the host from severe viral infection. However, how T cells support B cells to exert protective humoral immunity in humans is not well understood. Here, we use COVID-19 as a model of acute viral infections and analyze CD4 + T cell subsets associated with plasmablast expansion and clinical outcome. Peripheral helper T cells (Tph cells; denoted as PD-1 high CXCR5 - CD4 + T cells) are significantly increased, as are plasmablasts. Tph cells exhibit "B cell help" signatures and induce plasmablast differentiation in vitro. Interestingly, expanded plasmablasts show increased CXCR3 expression, which is positively correlated with higher frequency of activated Tph cells and better clinical outcome. Mechanistically, Tph cells help B cell differentiation and produce more interferon γ (IFNγ), which induces CXCR3 expression on plasmablasts. These results elucidate a role for Tph cells in regulating protective B cell response during acute viral infection., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests D.A.H. has received research funding from Bristol-Myers Squibb, Novartis, Sanofi, and Genentech. He has been a consultant for Bayer Pharmaceuticals, Bristol Myers Squibb, Compass Therapeutics, EMD Serono, Genentech, Juno Therapeutics, Novartis Pharmaceuticals, Proclara Biosciences, Sage Therapeutics, and Sanofi Genzyme. Further information regarding funding is available at https://openpaymentsdata.cms.gov/physician/166753/general-payments. N.K. reports personal fees from Boehringer Ingelheim, Third Rock, Pliant, Samumed, NuMedii, Indalo, Theravance, LifeMax, Three Lake Partners, and RohBar in the last 36 months and Equity in Pliant. N.K. is also a recipient of a grant from Veracyte and non-financial support from Miragen. In addition, N.K. has patents on New Therapies in Pulmonary Fibrosis and ARDS (unlicensed) and Peripheral Blood Gene Expression as biomarkers in IPF (licensed to biotech), all outside the submitted work. S.H.K. receives consulting fees from Northrop Grumman. K.B.H. receives consulting fees from Prellis Biologics., (Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Better understanding of the association between characteristics of patients hospitalized with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and outcome is needed to further improve upon patient management., Methods: Immunophenotyping Assessment in a COVID-19 Cohort (IMPACC) is a prospective, observational study of 1164 patients from 20 hospitals across the United States. Disease severity was assessed using a 7-point ordinal scale based on degree of respiratory illness. Patients were prospectively surveyed for 1 year after discharge for post-acute sequalae of COVID-19 (PASC) through quarterly surveys. Demographics, comorbidities, radiographic findings, clinical laboratory values, SARS-CoV-2 PCR and serology were captured over a 28-day period. Multivariable logistic regression was performed., Findings: The median age was 59 years (interquartile range [IQR] 20); 711 (61%) were men; overall mortality was 14%, and 228 (20%) required invasive mechanical ventilation. Unsupervised clustering of ordinal score over time revealed distinct disease course trajectories. Risk factors associated with prolonged hospitalization or death by day 28 included age ≥ 65 years (odds ratio [OR], 2.01; 95% CI 1.28-3.17), Hispanic ethnicity (OR, 1.71; 95% CI 1.13-2.57), elevated baseline creatinine (OR 2.80; 95% CI 1.63- 4.80) or troponin (OR 1.89; 95% 1.03-3.47), baseline lymphopenia (OR 2.19; 95% CI 1.61-2.97), presence of infiltrate by chest imaging (OR 3.16; 95% CI 1.96-5.10), and high SARS-CoV2 viral load (OR 1.53; 95% CI 1.17-2.00). Fatal cases had the lowest ratio of SARS-CoV-2 antibody to viral load levels compared to other trajectories over time (p=0.001). 589 survivors (51%) completed at least one survey at follow-up with 305 (52%) having at least one symptom consistent with PASC, most commonly dyspnea (56% among symptomatic patients). Female sex was the only associated risk factor for PASC., Interpretation: Integration of PCR cycle threshold, and antibody values with demographics, comorbidities, and laboratory/radiographic findings identified risk factors for 28-day outcome severity, though only female sex was associated with PASC. Longitudinal clinical phenotyping offers important insights, and provides a framework for immunophenotyping for acute and long COVID-19., Funding: NIH., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests J.S reports funds paid to institution by the National Institute of Health - National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for the completion of this manuscript. C.S.C reports funds from NHLBI, has grants/contracts from Bayer, Roche-Genentech, Quantum Leap Healthcare Collaborative and received consulting fees from Vasomune, Gen1e Life Sciences, Cellenkos, Janssen. C.B.C reports funds paid to institution from the National Institute of Health - National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for the completion of this manuscript. C.B.C also reports a grant paid to institution by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for Covid-19 work. C.B.C is a consultant for bioMerieux on clinical biomarkers. He reports his participation on a data safety monitoring board or advisory board for the Convalescent plasma Covid-19 study for the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI). CBC is also President, Board of Directors for the National Foundation of Emergency Medicine (NFEM), a non-profit supporting emergency medicine research and researchers. M.K reports funds paid to institution for grants or contracts from the National Institute of Health. L.B reports grant awarded to institution from the National Institute of Health - National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. A.C.S reports funds paid to institution by the National Institute of Health for the completion of this manuscript (NIH U19 AI089992 – NIH K24 AG042489). F.KR has received funds from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Collaborative Influenza Vaccine Innovation Centers (CIVIC) contract 75N93019C00051, the National Institute of Health - Centers of Excellence for influenza Research and Response, (CEIRR), 75N93021C00014, the JPB Foundation and the Open Philanthropy Project (research grant 2020-215611, 5384), the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, under Contract No. 75N91019D00024, Task Order No. 75N91020F00003 and Research funding from Pfizer for development of animal models for SARS-CoV-2. F.KR receives royalties from Avimex, and receives consulting fees from Pfizer, Seqirus, Avimex and Third Rock Ventures. F.KR has received several payments or honoraria for academic lectures over the past two years. F. KR is listed as a co-inventor on patents filed for applications relating to SARS-CoV-2 serological assays (the “Serology Assays”) and NDV-based SARS-CoV-2 vaccines. H.vB reports receipt of the following grants paid to institution: National Institute of Health Centers of Excellence for influenza Research and Response, (CEIRR - 75N93021C00014), and National Institute of Health (Dengue Human Immunology Project Consortium - Mount Sinai IMPACC COVID-19 Cores - U19 AI118610 S1). D. E reports funds paid to institution for grants or contracts from the National Institute of Health. D.E is a statistician on the Data Safety Monitoring Board for the COLSTAT Trial. D.E is on the board of Directors for the Society for Clinical Trials. V.S is listed as a co-inventor on a patent filed relating to SARS-CoV-2 serological assays (the “Serology Assays”). R.M reports a grant from the National Institute of Health for the completion of this manuscript (AI 089992). R. M served as a Counselor for the Society of Leukocyte Biology from 2018 to 2021. S.K is a personal consultant related to ImmPort data repository for Peraton. O.L reports funds paid to institution by the National Institute of Health - National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for the completion of this manuscript (1-U19-AI118608-01A1). O.L received payments in the past 36 months from Midsized Bank Coalition of America (MBCA) and Moody's Analytics for presentations regarding the coronavirus pandemic. D.J.E reports funds paid to institution for grants or contracts from the National Institute of Health. K.C.N reports having received grants paid to institution from the following institutes in the past 36 months: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), and Food Allergy Research & Education (FARE). K.C.N receives consulting fees from Excellergy, Eli Lilly, Red Tree Ventures, and Phylaxis. K.C.N has one Licensee: Alladapt and Before Brands (Application number: US15/048,609) for Mixed allergen composition and methods for using the same. K.C.N has two patents issued: Granulocyte-based methods for detecting and monitoring immune system disorders (Application number: US12/686,121), and Methods and Assays for Detecting and Quantifying Pure Subpopulations of White Blood Cells in Immune System Disorders (Application number: US12/610,94). K.C.N is the director of the World Allergy Organization Center of Excellence for Stanford and a co-founder of Seed Health, IgGenix, ClostraBio, and ImmuneID. K.C.N is also a co-founder of Before Brands, Alladapt, and Latitude and an advisor for Cour Pharma. K.C.N is a member of the national scientific committee for the Immune Tolerance Network (ITN) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) clinical research centers. C.L.H reports a grant awarded to institution by the National Institute of Health and the American Lung Association. C.L.H also reports having received consulting fees from the National Institute of Health. C.L.H has received payment for medical grand rounds at institution and support for attending meetings and/or travel from Critical care trialists, critical care reviews and multiple universities. C.L.H is on the data safety monitoring board of QuantumHealth for iSPY COVID and is on the board of directors for the American Thoracic Society. W.M reports a grant from the National Institute of Health – National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for the completion of this manuscript (NIH NIAID R01AI14583). J.P.M reports funds paid to institution for grants or contracts from the National Institute of Health for the completion of this manuscript (NIH Grant # 3U19AI062629-17S2). M.A.A reports a grant from the National Institute of Health - National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for the completion of this manuscript (5U54AI142766-03). L.E reports grant awarded to institution from the National Institute of Health (NIH R01AI104870-S1). E.M reports funds paid to institution for grants or contracts from the National Institute of Health for the completion of this manuscript (NIH R01 AI104870S1). E.M also reports having received the following grants paid to institution in the past 36 months: the Babson Diagnostics Grant, the Austin Public Health Grant, and K08 26-1616-11. E.M received payments for lectures for the MS Association of America. E. M received payments for the participation in the advisory boards of Genentech, Horizon, Teva and Viela Bio. G.M receives consulting fees from Gilead. B.PE reports a grant from the National Institute of Health - National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for the completion of this manuscript. E.F.R reports funds paid to institution by the National Institute of Health - National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for the completion of this manuscript (NIAID U19AI12891303). M.C.A reports funds received from the National Institute of Health for the completion of this manuscript (NIH – R01AI32774) and funding by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for travel to present data related to this study. P.M.B is a federal employee serving as project scientist for this project but has no role in funding decisions or oversight for relevant grants. N.R reports funds paid to institution by the National Institute of Health - National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for the completion of this manuscript. N.R reports contracts with Lilly and Sanofi for conduct of Covid-19 clinical trials. N.R receives consulting fees from ICON EMMES for consulting on safety for Covid-19 clinical trials. N.R is an associate editor for Clinical infectious diseases. The remaining authors declare that they have no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The impact of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) mRNA vaccination on pregnancy and fertility has become a major topic of public interest. We investigated 2 of the most widely propagated claims to determine (1) whether COVID-19 mRNA vaccination of mice during early pregnancy is associated with an increased incidence of birth defects or growth abnormalities; and (2) whether COVID-19 mRNA-vaccinated human volunteers exhibit elevated levels of antibodies to the human placental protein syncytin-1. Using a mouse model, we found that intramuscular COVID-19 mRNA vaccination during early pregnancy at gestational age E7.5 did not lead to differences in fetal size by crown-rump length or weight at term, nor did we observe any gross birth defects. In contrast, injection of the TLR3 agonist and double-stranded RNA mimic polyinosinic-polycytidylic acid, or poly(I:C), impacted growth in utero leading to reduced fetal size. No overt maternal illness following either vaccination or poly(I:C) exposure was observed. We also found that term fetuses from these murine pregnancies vaccinated prior to the formation of the definitive placenta exhibit high circulating levels of anti-spike and anti-receptor-binding domain (anti-RBD) antibodies to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) consistent with maternal antibody status, indicating transplacental transfer in the later stages of pregnancy after early immunization. Finally, we did not detect increased levels of circulating anti-syncytin-1 antibodies in a cohort of COVID-19 vaccinated adults compared to unvaccinated adults by ELISA. Our findings contradict popular claims associating COVID-19 mRNA vaccination with infertility and adverse neonatal outcomes., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Dysregulated immune responses against the SARS-CoV-2 virus are instrumental in severe COVID-19. However, the immune signatures associated with immunopathology are poorly understood. Here we use multi-omics single-cell analysis to probe the dynamic immune responses in hospitalized patients with stable or progressive course of COVID-19, explore V(D)J repertoires, and assess the cellular effects of tocilizumab. Coordinated profiling of gene expression and cell lineage protein markers shows that S100A hi /HLA-DR lo classical monocytes and activated LAG-3 hi T cells are hallmarks of progressive disease and highlights the abnormal MHC-II/LAG-3 interaction on myeloid and T cells, respectively. We also find skewed T cell receptor repertories in expanded effector CD8 + clones, unmutated IGHG + B cell clones, and mutated B cell clones with stable somatic hypermutation frequency over time. In conclusion, our in-depth immune profiling reveals dyssynchrony of the innate and adaptive immune interaction in progressive COVID-19., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants with mutations in major neutralizing antibody-binding sites can affect humoral immunity induced by infection or vaccination 1-6 . Here we analysed the development of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody and T cell responses in individuals who were previously infected (recovered) or uninfected (naive) and received mRNA vaccines to SARS-CoV-2. While individuals who were previously infected sustained higher antibody titres than individuals who were uninfected post-vaccination, the latter reached comparable levels of neutralization responses to the ancestral strain after the second vaccine dose. T cell activation markers measured upon spike or nucleocapsid peptide in vitro stimulation showed a progressive increase after vaccination. Comprehensive analysis of plasma neutralization using 16 authentic isolates of distinct locally circulating SARS-CoV-2 variants revealed a range of reduction in the neutralization capacity associated with specific mutations in the spike gene: lineages with E484K and N501Y/T (for example, B.1.351 and P.1) had the greatest reduction, followed by lineages with L452R (for example, B.1.617.2). While both groups retained neutralization capacity against all variants, plasma from individuals who were previously infected and vaccinated displayed overall better neutralization capacity than plasma from individuals who were uninfected and also received two vaccine doses, pointing to vaccine boosters as a relevant future strategy to alleviate the effect of emerging variants on antibody neutralizing activity., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.)

Recent studies have provided insights into innate and adaptive immune dynamics in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). However, the exact features of antibody responses that govern COVID-19 disease outcomes remain unclear. In this study, we analyzed humoral immune responses in 229 patients with asymptomatic, mild, moderate and severe COVID-19 over time to probe the nature of antibody responses in disease severity and mortality. We observed a correlation between anti-spike (S) immunoglobulin G (IgG) levels, length of hospitalization and clinical parameters associated with worse clinical progression. Although high anti-S IgG levels correlated with worse disease severity, such correlation was time dependent. Deceased patients did not have higher overall humoral response than discharged patients. However, they mounted a robust, yet delayed, response, measured by anti-S, anti-receptor-binding domain IgG and neutralizing antibody (NAb) levels compared to survivors. Delayed seroconversion kinetics correlated with impaired viral control in deceased patients. Finally, although sera from 85% of patients displayed some neutralization capacity during their disease course, NAb generation before 14 d of disease onset emerged as a key factor for recovery. These data indicate that COVID-19 mortality does not correlate with the cross-sectional antiviral antibody levels per se but, rather, with the delayed kinetics of NAb production., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature America, Inc.)