Cross-reactive immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 have been observed in pre-pandemic cohorts and proposed to contribute to host protection. Here we assess 52 COVID-19 household contacts to capture immune responses at the earliest timepoints after SARS-CoV-2 exposure. Using a dual cytokine FLISpot assay on peripheral blood mononuclear cells, we enumerate the frequency of T cells specific for spike, nucleocapsid, membrane, envelope and ORF1 SARS-CoV-2 epitopes that cross-react with human endemic coronaviruses. We observe higher frequencies of cross-reactive (p = 0.0139), and nucleocapsid-specific (p = 0.0355) IL-2-secreting memory T cells in contacts who remained PCR-negative despite exposure (n = 26), when compared with those who convert to PCR-positive (n = 26); no significant difference in the frequency of responses to spike is observed, hinting at a limited protective function of spike-cross-reactive T cells. Our results are thus consistent with pre-existing non-spike cross-reactive memory T cells protecting SARS-CoV-2-naïve contacts from infection, thereby supporting the inclusion of non-spike antigens in second-generation vaccines.

The coronaviral spike is the dominant viral antigen and the target of neutralizing antibodies. We show that SARS-CoV-2 spike binds biliverdin and bilirubin, the tetrapyrrole products of heme metabolism, with nanomolar affinity. Using cryo–electron microscopy and x-ray crystallography, we mapped the tetrapyrrole interaction pocket to a deep cleft on the spike N-terminal domain (NTD). At physiological concentrations, biliverdin significantly dampened the reactivity of SARS-CoV-2 spike with immune sera and inhibited a subset of neutralizing antibodies. Access to the tetrapyrrole-sensitive epitope is gated by a flexible loop on the distal face of the NTD. Accompanied by profound conformational changes in the NTD, antibody binding requires relocation of the gating loop, which folds into the cleft vacated by the metabolite. Our results indicate that SARS-CoV-2 spike NTD harbors a dominant epitope, access to which can be controlled by an allosteric mechanism that is regulated through recruitment of a metabolite.

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The coronaviral spike is the dominant viral antigen and the target of neutralizing antibodies. We show that SARS-CoV-2 spike binds biliverdin and bilirubin, the tetrapyrrole products of haem metabolism, with nanomolar affinity. Using cryo-electron microscopy and X-ray crystallography we mapped the tetrapyrrole interaction pocket to a deep cleft on the spike N-terminal domain (NTD). At physiological concentrations, biliverdin significantly dampened the reactivity of SARS-CoV-2 spike with immune sera and inhibited a subset of neutralizing antibodies. Access to the tetrapyrrole-sensitive epitope is gated by a flexible loop on the distal face of the NTD. Accompanied by profound conformational changes in the NTD, antibody binding requires relocation of the gating loop, which folds into the cleft vacated by the metabolite. Our results indicate that the virus co-opts the haem metabolite for the evasion of humoral immunity via allosteric shielding of a sensitive epitope and demonstrate the remarkable structural plasticity of the NTD.

Objective. Osteoarthritis (OA) is polygenic, with more than 90 risk loci currently mapped, including at the singlenucleotide polymorphism rs6516886. Previous analysis of OA cartilage DNA identified 6 CpG dinucleotides with methylation levels that correlated with the rs6516886 genotype, forming methylation quantitative trait loci (mQTLs). We undertook this study to investigate these mQTLs and to map expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) across joint tissues in order to identify a particular gene as a target of the rs6516886 association effect. Methods. Nucleic acids were extracted from the cartilage, fat pad, synovium, and peripheral blood from OA patients. Methylation of CpGs and allelic expression imbalance of potential target genes were assessed by pyrosequencing. A chondrocyte cell line expressing deactivated Cas9 (dCas9)-TET1 was used to directly alter CpG methylation levels, with effects on gene expression quantified by polymerase chain reaction. Results. Multiple mQTLs were detected, with effects strongest in joint tissues and methylation at CpG cg20220242 correlating most significantly with the rs6516886 genotype. CpG cg20220242 is located upstream of RWDD2B. Significant rs6516886 eQTLs were observed for this gene, with the OA risk-conferring allele of rs6516886 correlating with reduced expression. CpG methylation also correlated with allelic expression of RWDD2B, forming methylation-expression QTLs (meQTLs). Deactivated Cas9-TET1 reduction in the methylation of cg20220242 increased expression of RWDD2B. Conclusion. The rs6516886 association signal is a multi-tissue meQTL involving cg20220242 and acting on RWDD2B. Modulating CpG methylation reverses the impact of the risk allele. RWDD2B codes for a protein about which little is currently known. Further analysis of RWDD2B as a target of OA genetic risk will provide novel insight into this complex disease.

Monoclonal antibodies that immunoprecipitate human monoamine oxidase (MAO) A or human MAO B, but not the corresponding mouse enzymes, were used to assay for the presence of immunoprecipitable MAO A or MAO B (presumably coded by the respective human genes) in mouse-human hybrid somatic cell lines containing small numbers of human chromosomes. The results were as follow: Extracts of a human lymphoblastoid x mouse hepatoma hybrid line that retained the human X chromosome contained immunoprecipitable MAO B, while a similar hybrid line that contained the same human chromosomes, except for the human X, did not. Extracts of a human fibroblast x mouse neuroblastoma hybrid cell line, whose human chromosomal material consisted solely of the X, contained both immunoprecipitable MAO A and MAO B. Extracts of a related hybrid line, whose human chromosomal material consisted solely of an autonomous fragment and a fragment translocated to a mouse chromosome, contained immunoprecipitable MAO A. However, the level of immunoprecipitable MAO B activity in extracts of this hybrid was low or undetectable. Among extracts of 33 human fibroblast x mouse hepatoma hybrids that had been selected for expression of the X-linked human enzyme HPRT, 60% contained immunoprecipitable MAO B. This figure was comparable to the 58% that expressed the X-linked human isozyme for glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD). When 11 of these hybrid lines, which contained immunoprecipitable MAO B and human HPRT, were selected for loss of HPRT, all lost immunoprecipitable MAO B in addition to HPRT. These data demonstrate that genes controlling the expression of MAO A and MAO B, which can be immunoprecipitated with the human-specific monoclonal antibodies, are located on the human X chromosome. Properties of the immunological epitopes recognized by the monoclonal antibodies suggest that the X-linked genes detected in this study are probably structural genes for the enzymes.

It is currently unknown how Post-COVID-19 Syndrome (PCS) may affect those infected with SARS-CoV-2. This longitudinal study reports on healthcare staff who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 between March-April 2020 and follows their antibody titres and symptomatology. Over half (n=21/38) had PCS at 7-8 months. There was no statistically significant difference between initial RT-PCR viral titres or serial antibody levels between those who did and did not develop PCS. This study highlights the relative commonality of PCS in healthcare workers and this should be considered in vaccination scheduling and workforce planning to allow adequate frontline staffing numbers.

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