Tocilizumab-treated convalescent COVID-19 patients retain the cross-neutralization potential against SARS-CoV-2 variants

• Published in: iScience Vol. 26; no. 3; p. 106124
• Main Authors: Chauvin, Camille, Levillayer, Laurine, Roumier, Mathilde, Nielly, Hubert, Roth, Claude, Karnam, Anupama, Bonam, Srinivasa Reddy, Bourgarit, Anne, Dubost, Clément, Bousquet, Aurore, Le Burel, Sébastien, Mestiri, Raphaële, Sene, Damien, Galland, Joris, Vasse, Marc, Groh, Matthieu, Le Marchand, Mathilde, Vassord-Dang, Camille, Gautier, Jean-François, Pham-Thi, Nhan, Verny, Christiane, Pitard, Bruno, Planchais, Cyril, Mouquet, Hugo, Paul, Richard, Simon-Loriere, Etienne, Bayry, Jagadeesh, Gilardin, Laurent, Sakuntabhai, Anavaj
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 17.03.2023; Elsevier BV; Elsevier
• Subjects: [SDV.IMM.IMM]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Immunology/Immunotherapy; [SDV.MHEP.ME]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Human health and pathology/Emerging diseases; [SDV.MHEP.MI]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Human health and pathology/Infectious diseases; Emerging diseases; Health sciences; Human health and pathology; Immunology; Immunotherapy; Infectious diseases; Life Sciences; Q; Science; treatment; Virology; Health sciences; treatment; Immunology; Virology
• ISSN: 2589-0042; 2589-0042
• DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.106124

Although tocilizumab treatment in severe and critical coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients has proven its efficacy at the clinical level, there is little evidence supporting the effect of short-term use of interleukin-6 receptor blocking therapy on the B cell sub-populations and the cross-neutralization of SARS-CoV-2 variants in convalescent COVID-19 patients. We performed immunological profiling of 69 tocilizumab-treated and non-treated convalescent COVID-19 patients in total. We observed that SARS-CoV-2-specific IgG1 titers depended on disease severity but not on tocilizumab treatment. The plasma of both treated and non-treated patients infected with the ancestral variant exhibit strong neutralizing activity against the ancestral virus and the Alpha, Beta, and Delta variants of SARS-CoV-2, whereas the Gamma and Omicron viruses were less sensitive to seroneutralization. Overall, we observed that, despite the clinical benefits of short-term tocilizumab therapy in modifying the cytokine storm associated with COVID-19 infections, there were no modifications in the robustness of B cell and IgG responses to Spike antigens. [Display omitted] •SARS-CoV-2-specific IgG1 titers depended on disease severity but not on tocilizumab•No major impact of tocilizumab on the B cell subsets and SARS-CoV-2-specific IgG1•Tocilizumab does not alter plasma virus neutralization capacity for SARS-CoV-2 VOCs Health sciences; Virology; Treatment; Immunology.