Covid-19 and blood groups: ABO antibody levels may also matter

Background: Susceptibility to Covid-19 has been found to be associated with the ABO blood group, with O type individuals being at a lower risk. However, the underlying mechanism has not been elucidated. Here, we aimed to test the hypothesis that Covid-19 patients might have lower levels of ABO antibodies than non-infected individuals as they could offer some degree of protection. Methods: After showing that the viral spike protein harbors the ABO glycan epitopes when produced by cells expressing the relevant glycosyltransferases, like upper respiratory tract epithelial cells, we enrolled 290 patients with Covid-19 and 276 asymptomatic controls to compare their levels of natural ABO blood group antibodies. Results: We found significantly lower IgM anti-A + anti-B agglutination scores in blood group O patients (76.93 vs 88.29, P-value = 0.034) and lower levels of anti-B (24.93 vs 30.40, P-value = 0.028) and anti-A antibodies (28.56 vs 36.50, P-value = 0.048) in blood group A and blood group B patients, respectively, compared to controls. Conclusion: In this study, we showed that ABO antibody levels are significantly lower in Covid-19 patients compared to controls. These findings could indicate that patients with low levels of ABO antibodies are at higher risk of being infected..

Medienart:

E-Artikel

Erscheinungsjahr:

2021

Erschienen:

2021

Enthalten in:

Zur Gesamtaufnahme - volume:104

Enthalten in:

International Journal of Infectious Diseases - 104(2021), Seite 242-249

Sprache:

Englisch

Beteiligte Personen:

Marie Deleers [VerfasserIn]
Adrien Breiman [VerfasserIn]
Valéry Daubie [VerfasserIn]
Carine Maggetto [VerfasserIn]
Isabelle Barreau [VerfasserIn]
Tatiana Besse [VerfasserIn]
Béatrice Clémenceau [VerfasserIn]
Nathalie Ruvoën-Clouet [VerfasserIn]
Jean-François Fils [VerfasserIn]
Evelyne Maillart [VerfasserIn]
Virginie Doyen [VerfasserIn]
Bhavna Mahadeb [VerfasserIn]
Jacques C. Jani [VerfasserIn]
Philippe Van der Linden [VerfasserIn]
Mieke M. Cannie [VerfasserIn]
Nabil Hayef [VerfasserIn]
Francis Corazza [VerfasserIn]
Jacques Le Pendu [VerfasserIn]
Hanane El Kenz [VerfasserIn]

Links:

doi.org [kostenfrei]
doaj.org [kostenfrei]
www.sciencedirect.com [kostenfrei]
Journal toc [kostenfrei]

Themen:

ABO antibodies
ABO antibody levels
ABO blood group
Covid-19
Covid-19 infection risk
Infectious and parasitic diseases

doi:

10.1016/j.ijid.2020.12.025

funding:

Förderinstitution / Projekttitel:

PPN (Katalog-ID):

DOAJ056933541