PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Bruce K. Patterson
AU  - Edgar B. Francisco
AU  - Ram Yogendra
AU  - Emily Long
AU  - Amruta Pise
AU  - Hallison Rodrigues
AU  - Eric Hall
AU  - Monica Herrara
AU  - Purvi Parikh
AU  - Jose Guevara-Coto
AU  - Xaiolan Chang
AU  - Jonah B Sacha
AU  - Rodrigo A Mora-Rodríguez
AU  - Javier Mora
TI  - Persistence of SARS CoV-2 S1 Protein in CD16+ Monocytes in Post-Acute Sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC) Up to 15 Months Post-Infection
AID  - 10.1101/2021.06.25.449905
DP  - 2021 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 2021.06.25.449905
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/06/25/2021.06.25.449905.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/06/25/2021.06.25.449905.full
AB  - The recent COVID-19 pandemic is a treatment challenge in the acute infection stage but the recognition of chronic COVID-19 symptoms termed post-acute sequelae SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC) may affect up to 30% of all infected individuals. The underlying mechanism and source of this distinct immunologic condition three months or more after initial infection remains elusive. Here, we investigated the presence of SARS-CoV-2 S1 protein in 46 individuals. We analyzed T-cell, B-cell, and monocytic subsets in both severe COVID-19 patients and in patients with post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC). The levels of both intermediate (CD14+, CD16+) and non-classical monocyte (CD14Lo, CD16+) were significantly elevated in PASC patients up to 15 months post-acute infection compared to healthy controls (P=0.002 and P=0.01, respectively). A statistically significant number of non-classical monocytes contained SARS-CoV-2 S1 protein in both severe (P=0.004) and PASC patients (P=0.02) out to 15 months post-infection. Non-classical monocytes were sorted from PASC patients using flow cytometric sorting and the SARS-CoV-2 S1 protein was confirmed by mass spectrometry. Cells from 4 out of 11 severe COVID-19 patients and 1 out of 26 also contained SARS-CoV-2 RNA. Non-classical monocytes are capable of causing inflammation throughout the body in response to fractalkine/CX3CL1 and RANTES/CCR5.Summary SARS CoV-2 S1 Protein in CD16+ Monocytes In PASCCompeting Interest StatementB.K.P, A.P., H.R., E.L, and EBF. are employees of IncellDx