Mapping Systemic Inflammation and Antibody Responses in Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C).

Journal: MedRxiv : The Preprint Server For Health Sciences
Published:
Abstract

Initially, the global outbreak of COVID-19 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) spared children from severe disease. However, after the initial wave of infections, clusters of a novel hyperinflammatory disease have been reported in regions with ongoing SARS-CoV-2 epidemics. While the characteristic clinical features are becoming clear, the pathophysiology remains unknown. Herein, we report on the immune profiles of eight Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C) cases. We document that all MIS-C patients had evidence of prior SARS-CoV-2 exposure, mounting an antibody response with normal isotype-switching and neutralization capability. We further profiled the secreted immune response by high-dimensional cytokine assays, which identified elevated signatures of inflammation (IL-18 and IL-6), lymphocytic and myeloid chemotaxis and activation (CCL3, CCL4, and CDCP1) and mucosal immune dysregulation (IL-17A, CCL20, CCL28). Mass cytometry immunophenotyping of peripheral blood revealed reductions of mDC1 and non-classical monocytes, as well as both NK- and T- lymphocytes, suggesting extravasation to affected tissues. Markers of activated myeloid function were also evident, including upregulation of ICAM1 and FcγR1 in neutrophil and non-classical monocytes, well-documented markers in autoinflammation and autoimmunity that indicate enhanced antigen presentation and Fc-mediated responses. Finally, to assess the role for autoimmunity secondary to infection, we profiled the auto-antigen reactivity of MIS-C plasma, which revealed both known disease-associated autoantibodies (anti-La) and novel candidates that recognize endothelial, gastrointestinal and immune-cell antigens. All patients were treated with anti-IL6R antibody or IVIG, which led to rapid disease resolution tracking with normalization of inflammatory markers.

Authors
Conor Gruber, Roosheel Patel, Rebecca Trachman, Lauren Lepow, Fatima Amanat, Florian Krammer, Karen Wilson, Kenan Onel, Daniel Geanon, Kevin Tuballes, Manishkumar Patel, Konstantinos Mouskas, Nicole Simons, Vanessa Barcessat, Diane Valle, Samantha Udondem, Gurpawan Kang, Sandeep Gangadharan, George Ofori Amanfo, Adeeb Rahman, Seunghee Kim Schulze, Alexander Charney, Sacha Gnjatic, Bruce Gelb, Miriam Merad, Dusan Bogunovic