Viruses (Nov 2021)

Epidemiological and Immunological Features of Obesity and SARS-CoV-2

  • Eric J. Nilles,
  • Sameed M. Siddiqui,
  • Stephanie Fischinger,
  • Yannic C. Bartsch,
  • Michael de St. Aubin,
  • Guohai Zhou,
  • Matthew J. Gluck,
  • Samuel Berger,
  • Justin Rhee,
  • Eric Petersen,
  • Benjamin Mormann,
  • Michael Loesche,
  • Yiyuan Hu,
  • Zhilin Chen,
  • Jingyou Yu,
  • Makda Gebre,
  • Caroline Atyeo,
  • Matthew J. Gorman,
  • Alex Lee Zhu,
  • John Burke,
  • Matthew Slein,
  • Mohammad A. Hasdianda,
  • Guruprasad Jambaulikar,
  • Edward W. Boyer,
  • Pardis C. Sabeti,
  • Dan H. Barouch,
  • Boris Julg,
  • Adam J. Kucharski,
  • Elon R. Musk,
  • Douglas A. Lauffenburger,
  • Galit Alter,
  • Anil S. Menon

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/v13112235
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 13, no. 11
p. 2235

Abstract

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Obesity is a key correlate of severe SARS-CoV-2 outcomes while the role of obesity on risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection, symptom phenotype, and immune response remain poorly defined. We examined data from a prospective SARS-CoV-2 cohort study to address these questions. Serostatus, body mass index, demographics, comorbidities, and prior COVID-19 compatible symptoms were assessed at baseline and serostatus and symptoms monthly thereafter. SARS-CoV-2 immunoassays included an IgG ELISA targeting the spike RBD, multiarray Luminex targeting 20 viral antigens, pseudovirus neutralization, and T cell ELISPOT assays. Our results from a large prospective SARS-CoV-2 cohort study indicate symptom phenotype is strongly influenced by obesity among younger but not older age groups; we did not identify evidence to suggest obese individuals are at higher risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection; and remarkably homogenous immune activity across BMI categories suggests immune protection across these groups may be similar.

Keywords