RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Use of convalescent serum reduces severity of COVID-19 in nonhuman primates
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 2020.10.14.340091
DO 10.1101/2020.10.14.340091
A1 Robert W. Cross
A1 Abhishek N. Prasad
A1 Viktoriya Borisevich
A1 Courtney Woolsey
A1 Krystle N. Agans
A1 Daniel J. Deer
A1 Natalie S. Dobias
A1 Joan B. Geisbert
A1 Karla A. Fenton
A1 Thomas W. Geisbert
YR 2020
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/10/14/2020.10.14.340091.abstract
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.