Evidence of SARS-CoV-2 Spread in Rural Tanzania During the First 6 Months of the Global COVID-19 Pandemic.

In the first 6 months of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, limited testing clouded understanding of the extent of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) transmission in Africa. In particular, Tanzania halted all testing and reporting of SARS-CoV-2 cases after May 2020, not resuming until June 2021. In July-August 2020, we performed a seroprevalence survey in rural Bagamoyo district, 40 km outside Dar es Salaam.

Evaluation of the VioOne HIV profile supplemental assay.

HIV is an ongoing global epidemic with estimates of more than a million new infections occurring annually. To combat viral spread, continuous innovations in areas including testing and treatment are necessary. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend that laboratories follow an HIV testing algorithm that first uses a US Food and Drug Administration approved immunoassay to detect antibodies to HIV-1 or HIV-2 as well as HIV-1 p24 antigen in serum or plasma samples.

Utilizing principal component analysis in the identification of clinically relevant changes in patient HLA single antigen bead solid phase testing patterns.

Background: HLA antibody testing is essential for successful solid-organ allocation, patient monitoring post-transplant, and risk assessment for both solid-organ and hematopoietic transplant patients. Luminex solid-phase testing is the most common method for identifying HLA antibody specificities, making it one of the most complex immunoassays as each panel contains over 90 specificities for both HLA class I and HLA class II with most of the analysis being performed manually in the vendor-provided software. Principal component analysis (PCA), used in machine learning, is a feature extraction method often utilized to assess data with many variables.

Outcomes of Convalescent Plasma with Defined High versus Lower Neutralizing Antibody Titers against SARS-CoV-2 among Hospitalized Patients: CoronaVirus Inactivating Plasma (CoVIP) Study.

COVID-19 convalescent plasma (CCP) was an early and widely adopted putative therapy for severe COVID-19. Results from randomized control trials and observational studies have failed to demonstrate a clear therapeutic role for CCP for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. Underlying these inconclusive findings is a broad heterogeneity in the concentrations of neutralizing antibodies (nAbs) between different CCP donors.

Repeatability of QuantiFERON-TB gold plus testing utilizing microparticle chemiluminescence.

Background: Detection of latent Mycobacterium tuberculosis (LTBI) in patients is important to prevent active infection and the spread of disease, particularly in vulnerable patient populations. In 2020, a kit on the high throughput Liaison XL (DiaSorin) became commercially available for the analysis of QuantiFERON-TB Gold Plus assay (Qiagen). Pilot testing indicated suboptimal repeatability of some samples with this assay.

Unique Molecular Identifier-Based High-Resolution HLA Typing and Transcript Quantitation Using Long-Read Sequencing.

HLA typing provides essential results for stem cell and solid organ transplants, as well as providing diagnostic benefits for various rheumatology, gastroenterology, neurology, and infectious diseases. It is becoming increasingly clear that understanding the expression of patient HLA transcripts can provide additional benefits for many of these same patient groups. Our study cohort was evaluated using a long-read RNA sequencing methodology to provide rapid HLA genotyping results and normalized HLA transcript expression.

The clinical impact of maternal COVID-19 on mothers, their infants, and placentas with an analysis of vertical transfer of maternal SARS-CoV-2-specific IgG antibodies.

Introduction: The effect of SARS-CoV-2 severity or the trimester of infection in pregnant mothers, placentas, and infants is not fully understood.

Methods: A retrospective, observational cohort study in Chapel Hill, NC of 115 mothers with SARS-CoV-2 and singleton pregnancies from December 1, 2019 to May 31, 2021 via chart review to document the infants' weight, length, head circumference, survival, congenital abnormalities, hearing loss, maternal complications, and placental pathology classified by the Amsterdam criteria.

Results: Of the 115 mothers, 85.

Kidney Function, Age, and Education as Contributors to Depression and Anxiety in Juvenile Systemic Lupus Erythematosus.

Juvenile systemic lupus erythematosus (JSLE) is diagnosed in children younger than 18 years of age. Depression and anxiety are common, but not well understood in JSLE. We investigated the clinical and psychological factors associated with the psychological manifestations of JSLE.

Next-generation sequencing and clinical histocompatibility testing.

Histocompatibility testing is essential for donor identification and risk assessment in solid organ and hematopoietic stem cell transplant. Additionally, it is useful for identifying donor specific alleles for monitoring donor specific antibodies in post-transplant patients. Next-generation sequence (NGS) based human leukocyte antigen (HLA) typing has improved many aspects of histocompatibility testing in hematopoietic stem cell and solid organ transplant.

Sex Disparities and Neutralizing-Antibody Durability to SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Convalescent Individuals.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has now caused over 2 million deaths worldwide and continues to expand. Currently, much is unknown about functionally neutralizing human antibody responses and durability to SARS-CoV-2 months after infection or the reason for the discrepancy in COVID-19 disease and sex. Using convalescent-phase sera collected from 101 COVID-19-recovered individuals 21 to 212 days after symptom onset with 48 additional longitudinal samples, we measured functionality and durability of serum antibodies.

Indeterminate QuantiFERON Gold Plus Results Reveal Deficient Interferon Gamma Responses in Severely Ill COVID-19 Patients.

SARS-CoV-2 is a novel positive-sense single-stranded RNA virus that has caused a recent pandemic. Most patients have a mild disease course, while approximately 20% have moderate to severe disease, often requiring hospitalization and, in some cases, care in the intensive care unit. By investigating a perceived increased rate of indeterminate QuantiFERON-TB Gold Plus results in hospitalized COVID patients, we demonstrate that severely ill COVID-19 patients have at least a 6-fold reduction of interferon gamma (IFN-γ) levels compared to control patients.

Suppressor of cytokine signaling-1 mimetic peptides attenuate lymphocyte activation in the MRL/lpr mouse autoimmune model.

Autoimmune diseases are driven largely by a pathogenic cytokine milieu produced by aberrantly activated lymphocytes. Many cytokines, including interferon gamma (IFN-γ), utilize the JAK/STAT pathway for signal propagation. Suppressor of Cytokine Signaling-1 (SOCS1) is an inducible, intracellular protein that regulates IFN-γ signaling by dampening JAK/STAT signaling.

Sex disparities and neutralizing antibody durability to SARS-CoV-2 infection in convalescent individuals.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) has now caused over 2 million deaths worldwide and continues to expand. Currently, much is unknown about functionally neutralizing human antibody responses and durability to SARS-CoV-2. Using convalescent sera collected from 101 COVID-19 recovered individuals 21-212 days after symptom onset with forty-eight additional longitudinal samples, we measured functionality and durability of serum antibodies.

SARS-CoV-2 Seroprevalence among a Southern U.S. Population Indicates Limited Asymptomatic Spread under Physical Distancing Measures.

Characterizing the asymptomatic spread of SARS-CoV-2 is important for understanding the COVID-19 pandemic. This study was aimed at determining asymptomatic spread of SARS-CoV-2 in a suburban, Southern U.S.

Efficacy of the Combination of Metformin and CTLA4Ig in the (NZB × NZW)F1 Mouse Model of Lupus Nephritis.

CTLA4Ig, a reagent that inhibits CD28 signaling, has shown therapeutic efficacy in mouse models of lupus nephritis (LN) when combined with several other biologics or standard of care drugs. Unfortunately, clinical trials treating LN patients with CTLA4Ig (abatacept) have not met endpoints. Metformin, a drug used to control hyperglycemia that inhibits mitochondrial metabolism, lowered the effective dose of glucocorticoids and prevented major flares when added on to the standard of care treatment of lupus patients with low disease activity.

The receptor binding domain of the viral spike protein is an immunodominant and highly specific target of antibodies in SARS-CoV-2 patients.

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that first emerged in late 2019 is responsible for a pandemic of severe respiratory illness. People infected with this highly contagious virus can present with clinically inapparent, mild, or severe disease. Currently, the virus infection in individuals and at the population level is being monitored by PCR testing of symptomatic patients for the presence of viral RNA.

The RBD Of The Spike Protein Of SARS-Group Coronaviruses Is A Highly Specific Target Of SARS-CoV-2 Antibodies But Not Other Pathogenic Human and Animal Coronavirus Antibodies.

A new Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus variant (SARS-CoV-2) that first emerged in late 2019 is responsible for a pandemic of severe respiratory illness. People infected with this highly contagious virus present with clinically inapparent, mild or severe disease. Currently, the presence of the virus in individual patients and at the population level is being monitored by testing symptomatic cases by PCR for the presence of viral RNA.

T cells expressing the lupus susceptibility allele Pbx1d enhance autoimmunity and atherosclerosis in dyslipidemic mice.

Patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) present a high incidence of atherosclerosis, which contributes significantly to morbidity and mortality in this autoimmune disease. An impaired balance between regulatory (Treg) and follicular helper (Tfh) CD4+ T cells is shared by both diseases. However, whether there are common mechanisms of CD4+ T cell dysregulation between SLE and atherosclerosis remains unclear.

Metabolic regulation of pathogenic autoimmunity: therapeutic targeting.

Metabolism has recently emerged as an essential mechanism that regulates the immune system. Studies in healthy mice and, to a lesser extent, humans, have defined the metabolism of immune cells in response to various challenges. It is increasingly recognized that the overactive immune system that drives autoimmune diseases presents metabolic abnormalities that offer therapeutic opportunities.

Targeting T Cell Activation and Lupus Autoimmune Phenotypes by Inhibiting Glucose Transporters.

CD4 T cells have numerous features of over-activated cellular metabolism in lupus patients and mouse models of the disease. This includes a higher glycolysis than in healthy controls. Glucose transporters play an essential role in glucose metabolism by controlling glucose import into the cell from the extracellular environment.

Immune cell metabolism in autoimmunity.

Immune metabolism is a rapidly moving field. While most of the research has been conducted to define the metabolism of healthy immune cells in the mouse, it is recognized that the overactive immune system that drives autoimmune diseases presents metabolic abnormalities that provide therapeutic opportunities, as well as a means to understand the fundamental mechanisms of autoimmune activation more clearly. Here, we review recent publications that have reported how the major metabolic pathways are affected in autoimmune diseases, with a focus on rheumatic diseases.

Influence of Biological Therapeutics, Cytokines, and Disease Activity on Depression in Rheumatoid Arthritis.

Purpose: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an often debilitating autoinflammatory disease. Patients with rheumatoid arthritis are often troubled by co-occurring depression or other psychological manifestations. RA patients have a variety of treatment options available, including biologicals that inhibit cytokines or immune cells.