PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Robert W. Cross
AU  - Abhishek N. Prasad
AU  - Viktoriya Borisevich
AU  - Courtney Woolsey
AU  - Krystle N. Agans
AU  - Daniel J. Deer
AU  - Natalie S. Dobias
AU  - Joan B. Geisbert
AU  - Karla A. Fenton
AU  - Thomas W. Geisbert
TI  - Use of convalescent serum reduces severity of COVID-19 in nonhuman primates
AID  - 10.1101/2020.10.14.340091
DP  - 2020 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 2020.10.14.340091
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/10/14/2020.10.14.340091.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/10/14/2020.10.14.340091.full
AB  - Passive transfer of convalescent plasma or serum is a time-honored strategy for treating infectious diseases. Human convalescent plasma containing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 is currently being used to treat COVID-19 patients. However, most patients have been treated outside of randomized clinical trials making it difficult to determine the efficacy of this approach. Here, we assessed the efficacy of convalescent sera in a newly developed African green monkey model of COVID-19. Groups of SARS-CoV-2-infected animals were treated with pooled convalescent sera containing either high or low to moderate anti-SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibody titers. Differences in viral load and disease pathology were minimal between monkeys that received the lower titer convalescent sera and untreated controls. However, and importantly, lower levels of SARS-CoV-2 in respiratory compartments, reduced gross and histopathological lesion severity in the lungs, and reductions in several parameters associated with coagulation and inflammatory processes were observed in monkeys that received convalescent sera versus untreated controls. Our data support human studies suggesting that convalescent plasma therapy is an effective strategy if donors with high level of antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 are employed and if recipients are at an early stage of disease.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.