Scientific Reports (Dec 2022)
Plasmodium infection is associated with cross-reactive antibodies to carbohydrate epitopes on the SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein
- Sarah Lapidus,
- Feimei Liu,
- Arnau Casanovas-Massana,
- Yile Dai,
- John D. Huck,
- Carolina Lucas,
- Jon Klein,
- Renata B. Filler,
- Madison S. Strine,
- Mouhamad Sy,
- Awa B. Deme,
- Aida S. Badiane,
- Baba Dieye,
- Ibrahima Mbaye Ndiaye,
- Younous Diedhiou,
- Amadou Moctar Mbaye,
- Cheikh Tidiane Diagne,
- Inés Vigan-Womas,
- Alassane Mbengue,
- Bacary D. Sadio,
- Moussa M. Diagne,
- Adam J. Moore,
- Khadidiatou Mangou,
- Fatoumata Diallo,
- Seynabou D. Sene,
- Mariama N. Pouye,
- Rokhaya Faye,
- Babacar Diouf,
- Nivison Nery,
- Federico Costa,
- Mitermayer G. Reis,
- M. Catherine Muenker,
- Daniel Z. Hodson,
- Yannick Mbarga,
- Ben Z. Katz,
- Jason R. Andrews,
- Melissa Campbell,
- Ariktha Srivathsan,
- Kathy Kamath,
- Elisabeth Baum-Jones,
- Ousmane Faye,
- Amadou Alpha Sall,
- Juan Carlos Quintero Vélez,
- Michael Cappello,
- Michael Wilson,
- Choukri Ben-Mamoun,
- Richard Tedder,
- Myra McClure,
- Peter Cherepanov,
- Fabrice A. Somé,
- Roch K. Dabiré,
- Carole Else Eboumbou Moukoko,
- Jean Bosco Ouédraogo,
- Yap Boum,
- John Shon,
- Daouda Ndiaye,
- Adam Wisnewski,
- Sunil Parikh,
- Akiko Iwasaki,
- Craig B. Wilen,
- Albert I. Ko,
- Aaron M. Ring,
- Amy K. Bei
Affiliations
- Sarah Lapidus
- Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases, Yale School of Public Health
- Feimei Liu
- Department of Immunobiology, Yale School of Medicine
- Arnau Casanovas-Massana
- Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases, Yale School of Public Health
- Yile Dai
- Department of Immunobiology, Yale School of Medicine
- John D. Huck
- Department of Immunobiology, Yale School of Medicine
- Carolina Lucas
- Department of Immunobiology, Yale School of Medicine
- Jon Klein
- Department of Immunobiology, Yale School of Medicine
- Renata B. Filler
- Department of Immunobiology, Yale School of Medicine
- Madison S. Strine
- Department of Immunobiology, Yale School of Medicine
- Mouhamad Sy
- Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases, Yale School of Public Health
- Awa B. Deme
- Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases, Yale School of Public Health
- Aida S. Badiane
- Laboratory of Parasitology and Mycology, Aristide le Dantec Hospital, Cheikh Anta Diop University
- Baba Dieye
- Laboratory of Parasitology and Mycology, Aristide le Dantec Hospital, Cheikh Anta Diop University
- Ibrahima Mbaye Ndiaye
- Laboratory of Parasitology and Mycology, Aristide le Dantec Hospital, Cheikh Anta Diop University
- Younous Diedhiou
- Laboratory of Parasitology and Mycology, Aristide le Dantec Hospital, Cheikh Anta Diop University
- Amadou Moctar Mbaye
- Laboratory of Parasitology and Mycology, Aristide le Dantec Hospital, Cheikh Anta Diop University
- Cheikh Tidiane Diagne
- DiaTROPIX Rapid Diagnostic Tests Facility, Institut Pasteur de Dakar
- Inés Vigan-Womas
- Pôle Immunophysiopathologie et Maladies Infectieuses, Institut Pasteur de Dakar
- Alassane Mbengue
- G4-Malaria Experimental Genetic Approaches and Vaccines, Pôle Immunophysiopathologie et Maladies Infectieuses, Institut Pasteur de Dakar
- Bacary D. Sadio
- Pôle Virologie, Institut Pasteur de Dakar
- Moussa M. Diagne
- Pôle Virologie, Institut Pasteur de Dakar
- Adam J. Moore
- Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases, Yale School of Public Health
- Khadidiatou Mangou
- G4-Malaria Experimental Genetic Approaches and Vaccines, Pôle Immunophysiopathologie et Maladies Infectieuses, Institut Pasteur de Dakar
- Fatoumata Diallo
- G4-Malaria Experimental Genetic Approaches and Vaccines, Pôle Immunophysiopathologie et Maladies Infectieuses, Institut Pasteur de Dakar
- Seynabou D. Sene
- G4-Malaria Experimental Genetic Approaches and Vaccines, Pôle Immunophysiopathologie et Maladies Infectieuses, Institut Pasteur de Dakar
- Mariama N. Pouye
- G4-Malaria Experimental Genetic Approaches and Vaccines, Pôle Immunophysiopathologie et Maladies Infectieuses, Institut Pasteur de Dakar
- Rokhaya Faye
- Pôle Immunophysiopathologie et Maladies Infectieuses, Institut Pasteur de Dakar
- Babacar Diouf
- Pôle Immunophysiopathologie et Maladies Infectieuses, Institut Pasteur de Dakar
- Nivison Nery
- Instituto de Saúde Coletiva, Universidade Federal da Bahia
- Federico Costa
- Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases, Yale School of Public Health
- Mitermayer G. Reis
- Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases, Yale School of Public Health
- M. Catherine Muenker
- Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases, Yale School of Public Health
- Daniel Z. Hodson
- Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases, Yale School of Public Health
- Yannick Mbarga
- Douala Military Hospital
- Ben Z. Katz
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Pediatrics, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago
- Jason R. Andrews
- Division of Infectious Diseases and Geographic Medicine, School of Medicine, Stanford University
- Melissa Campbell
- Yale Center for Clinical Investigation, Yale School of Medicine
- Ariktha Srivathsan
- Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases, Yale School of Public Health
- Kathy Kamath
- Serimmune, Inc.
- Elisabeth Baum-Jones
- Serimmune, Inc.
- Ousmane Faye
- Pôle Virologie, Institut Pasteur de Dakar
- Amadou Alpha Sall
- Pôle Virologie, Institut Pasteur de Dakar
- Juan Carlos Quintero Vélez
- Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases, Yale School of Public Health
- Michael Cappello
- Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases, Yale School of Public Health
- Michael Wilson
- Department of Parasitology, Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, University of Ghana
- Choukri Ben-Mamoun
- Department of Internal Medicine, Section of Infectious Diseases, Yale School of Medicine
- Richard Tedder
- Department of Infectious Disease, Imperial College London, St Mary’s Campus
- Myra McClure
- Department of Infectious Disease, Imperial College London, St Mary’s Campus
- Peter Cherepanov
- Department of Infectious Disease, Imperial College London, St Mary’s Campus
- Fabrice A. Somé
- Institut de Recherche en Sciences de La Santé (IRSS)/Centre Muraz
- Roch K. Dabiré
- Institut de Recherche en Sciences de La Santé (IRSS)/Centre Muraz
- Carole Else Eboumbou Moukoko
- Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Douala
- Jean Bosco Ouédraogo
- Institut de Recherche en Sciences de La Santé (IRSS)/Centre Muraz
- Yap Boum
- Médecins Sans Frontières, University of Yaoundé and Epicentre
- John Shon
- Serimmune, Inc.
- Daouda Ndiaye
- Laboratory of Parasitology and Mycology, Aristide le Dantec Hospital, Cheikh Anta Diop University
- Adam Wisnewski
- Department of Internal Medicine, Yale Occupational and Environmental Medicine Program, Yale School of Medicine
- Sunil Parikh
- Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases, Yale School of Public Health
- Akiko Iwasaki
- Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases, Yale School of Public Health
- Craig B. Wilen
- Department of Immunobiology, Yale School of Medicine
- Albert I. Ko
- Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases, Yale School of Public Health
- Aaron M. Ring
- Department of Immunobiology, Yale School of Medicine
- Amy K. Bei
- Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases, Yale School of Public Health
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-26709-7
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 12,
no. 1
pp. 1 – 16
Abstract
Abstract Sero-surveillance can monitor and project disease burden and risk. However, SARS-CoV-2 antibody test results can produce false positive results, limiting their efficacy as a sero-surveillance tool. False positive SARS-CoV-2 antibody results are associated with malaria exposure, and understanding this association is essential to interpret sero-surveillance results from malaria-endemic countries. Here, pre-pandemic samples from eight malaria endemic and non-endemic countries and four continents were tested by ELISA to measure SARS-CoV-2 Spike S1 subunit reactivity. Individuals with acute malaria infection generated substantial SARS-CoV-2 reactivity. Cross-reactivity was not associated with reactivity to other human coronaviruses or other SARS-CoV-2 proteins, as measured by peptide and protein arrays. ELISAs with deglycosylated and desialated Spike S1 subunits revealed that cross-reactive antibodies target sialic acid on N-linked glycans of the Spike protein. The functional activity of cross-reactive antibodies measured by neutralization assays showed that cross-reactive antibodies did not neutralize SARS-CoV-2 in vitro. Since routine use of glycosylated or sialated assays could result in false positive SARS-CoV-2 antibody results in malaria endemic regions, which could overestimate exposure and population-level immunity, we explored methods to increase specificity by reducing cross-reactivity. Overestimating population-level exposure to SARS-CoV-2 could lead to underestimates of risk of continued COVID-19 transmission in sub-Saharan Africa.