Homologies between SARS-CoV-2 and allergen proteins may direct T cell-mediated heterologous immune responses

Balz, Kathrin; Kaushik, Abhinav; Chen, Meng; Cemiĉ, Franz; Heger, Vanessa; Renz, Harald; Nadeau, Kari; Skevaki, Chrysanthi

doi:10.1038/s41598-021-84320-8

Cited by 32 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…reduced chance on a cytokine storm and hyper-inflammation [ 32 ], and, allergen proteins directing T cell-mediated heterologous immune responses [ 33 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparable seasonal pattern for COVID-19 and flu-like illnesses

Hoogeveen

2021

One Health

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Background During the first wave of COVID-19 it was hypothesized that COVID-19 is subject to multi-wave seasonality, similar to Influenza-Like Illnesses since time immemorial. One year into the pandemic, we aimed to test the seasonality hypothesis for COVID-19. Methods We calculated the average annual time-series for Influenza-Like Illnesses based on incidence data from 2016 till 2019 in the Netherlands, and compared these with two COVID-19 time-series during 2020/2021 for the Netherlands. We plotted the time-series on a standardized logarithmic infection scale. Finally, we calculated correlation coefficients and used univariate regression analysis to estimate the strength of the association between the time-series of COVID-19 and Influenza-Like Illnesses. Results The time-series for COVID-19 and Influenza-Like Illnesses were strongly and highly significantly correlated. The COVID-19 peaks were all during flu season, and lows were all in the opposing period. Finally, COVID-19 meets the multi-wave characteristics of earlier flu-like pandemics, namely a short first wave at the tail-end of a flu season, and a longer and more intense second wave during the subsequent flu season. Conclusions We conclude that seasonal patterns of COVID-19 incidence and Influenza-Like Illnesses incidence are highly similar, in a country in the temperate climate zone, such as the Netherlands. Further, the COVID-19 pandemic satisfies the criteria of earlier respiratory pandemics, namely a first wave that is short-lived at the tail-end of flu season, and a second wave that is longer and more severe. This seems to imply that the same factors that are driving the seasonality of Influenza-Like Illnesses are causing COVID-19 seasonality as well, such as solar radiation (UV), temperature, relative humidity, and subsequently seasonal allergens and allergies.

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“…reduced chance on a cytokine storm and hyper-inflammation [ 32 ], and, allergen proteins directing T cell-mediated heterologous immune responses [ 33 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparable seasonal pattern for COVID-19 and flu-like illnesses

Hoogeveen

2021

One Health

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“…These results indicate that asthma patients may be more affected by the heterologous immune response against SARS-CoV-2. In asthma patients sensitized to one of the predicted aeroallergens, the similarities with the SARS-CoV-2 proteome may be protective by preventing an overwhelming type 1 response and the accompanying cytokine storm ( 94 ).…”

Section: Asthma and Covid-19mentioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of allergy and asthma as a comorbidity on the susceptibility and outcomes of COVID-19

Gao

Agache

Akdiş

et al. 2021

International Immunology

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The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic causes an overwhelming number of hospitalization and deaths with a significant socioeconomic impact. The vast majority of studies indicate that asthma and allergic diseases do not represent a risk factor for COVID-19 susceptibility nor cause a more severe course of disease. This raises the opportunity to investigate the underlying mechanisms of the interaction between an allergic background and SARS-CoV-2 infection. The majority of patients with asthma, atopic dermatitis, allergic rhinitis, chronic rhinosinusitis, food and drug allergies exhibit an overexpression of type 2 immune and inflammatory pathways with the contribution of epithelial cells, innate lymphoid cells (ILC), dendritic cells, T cells, eosinophils, mast cells, basophils and the type 2 cytokines interleukin (IL)-4, IL-5, IL-9, IL-13, and IL-31. The potential impact of type 2 inflammation-related allergic diseases on susceptibility to COVID-19 and severity of its course have been reported. In this review, the prevalence of asthma and other common allergic diseases in COVID-19 patients is addressed. Moreover, the impact of allergic and non-allergic asthma with different severity and control status, currently available asthma treatments such as inhaled and oral corticosteroids, short- and long-acting β2 agonists, leukotriene receptor antagonists and biologicals on the outcome of COVID-19 patients is reviewed. In addition, possible protective mechanisms of asthma and type 2 inflammation on COVID-19 infection, such as the expression of SARS-CoV-2 entry receptors, antiviral activity of eosinophils, cross-reactive T cell epitopes are discussed. Potential interactions of other allergic diseases with COVID-19 are postulated, including recommendations for their management.

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“…These data suggest the third possibility by which the T-cells, recognizing the epitopes, are primed by the exposure to other ubiquitous antigens. A recent report suggested that such sequence homology exists between SARS-CoV-2 peptides and peptides from allergen proteins [71], malaria proteins [72], and antigenic proteins in BCG, OPV, MMR, and some other vaccines [73]. Perhaps sequence homology, in the context of 9-mer T-cell epitopes, between pathogens is more common than what was originally thought.…”

Section: Epitope Cross-reactivity With Human Peptides Human Common Co...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Immunoinformatics Analysis of SARS-CoV-2 ORF1ab Polyproteins to Identify Promiscuous and Highly Conserved T-Cell Epitopes to Formulate Vaccine for Indonesia and the World Population

et al. 2021

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SARS-CoV-2 and its variants caused the COVID-19 pandemic. Vaccines that target conserved regions of SARS-CoV-2 and stimulate protective T-cell responses are important for reducing symptoms and limiting the infection. Seven cytotoxic (CTL) and five helper T-cells (HTL) epitopes from ORF1ab were identified using NetCTLpan and NetMHCIIpan algorithms, respectively. These epitopes were generated from ORF1ab regions that are evolutionary stable as reflected by zero Shannon’s entropy and are presented by 56 human leukocyte antigen (HLA) Class I and 22 HLA Class II, ensuring good coverage for the Indonesian and world population. Having fulfilled other criteria such as immunogenicity, IFNγ inducing ability, and non-homology to human and microbiome peptides, the epitopes were assembled into a vaccine construct (VC) together with β-defensin as adjuvant and appropriate linkers. The VC was shown to have good physicochemical characteristics and capability of inducing CTL as well as HTL responses, which stem from the engagement of the vaccine with toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) as revealed by docking simulations. The most promiscuous peptide 899WSMATYYLF907 was shown via docking simulation to interact well with HLA-A*24:07, the most predominant allele in Indonesia. The data presented here will contribute to the in vitro study of T-cell epitope mapping and vaccine design in Indonesia.

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Homologies between SARS-CoV-2 and allergen proteins may direct T cell-mediated heterologous immune responses

Cited by 32 publications

References 29 publications

Comparable seasonal pattern for COVID-19 and flu-like illnesses

Comparable seasonal pattern for COVID-19 and flu-like illnesses

The effect of allergy and asthma as a comorbidity on the susceptibility and outcomes of COVID-19

Immunoinformatics Analysis of SARS-CoV-2 ORF1ab Polyproteins to Identify Promiscuous and Highly Conserved T-Cell Epitopes to Formulate Vaccine for Indonesia and the World Population

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