1. Autoantibodies neutralizing type I IFNs underlie severe tick-borne encephalitis in ∼10% of patients.
- Author
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Gervais A, Marchal A, Fortova A, Berankova M, Krbkova L, Pychova M, Salat J, Zhao S, Kerrouche N, Le Voyer T, Stiasny K, Raffl S, Schieber Pachart A, Fafi-Kremer S, Gravier S, Robbiani DF, Abel L, MacDonald MR, Rice CM, Weissmann G, Kamal Eldin T, Robatscher E, Erne EM, Pagani E, Borghesi A, Puel A, Bastard P, Velay A, Martinot M, Hansmann Y, Aberle JH, Ruzek D, Cobat A, Zhang SY, and Casanova JL
- Subjects
- Humans, Female, Male, Middle Aged, Adult, Encephalitis Viruses, Tick-Borne immunology, Aged, Austria epidemiology, Czech Republic, Encephalitis, Tick-Borne immunology, Interferon Type I immunology, Autoantibodies immunology, Antibodies, Neutralizing immunology
- Abstract
Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) virus (TBEV) is transmitted to humans via tick bites. Infection is benign in >90% of the cases but can cause mild (<5%), moderate (<4%), or severe (<1%) encephalitis. We show here that ∼10% of patients hospitalized for severe TBE in cohorts from Austria, Czech Republic, and France carry auto-Abs neutralizing IFN-α2, -β, and/or -ω at the onset of disease, contrasting with only ∼1% of patients with moderate and mild TBE. These auto-Abs were found in two of eight patients who died and none of 13 with silent infection. The odds ratios (OR) for severe TBE in individuals with these auto-Abs relative to those without them in the general population were 4.9 (95% CI: 1.5-15.9, P < 0.0001) for the neutralization of only 100 pg/ml IFN-α2 and/or -ω, and 20.8 (95% CI: 4.5-97.4, P < 0.0001) for the neutralization of 10 ng/ml IFN-α2 and -ω. Auto-Abs neutralizing type I IFNs accounted for ∼10% of severe TBE cases in these three European cohorts., (© 2024 Gervais et al.)
- Published
- 2024
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