Severe COVID-19 induces autoantibodies against angiotensin II that correlate with blood pressure dysregulation and disease severity
Source :
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9544317/We began by assessing the presence of immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies against AngII in the plasma of 221 subjects, among which 115 were hospitalized patients with COVID-19, 58 were control donors (from nonhypertensive patients sampled before the pandemic), and 48 were hypertensive non-SARS-CoV-2-infected donors (sampled before the pandemic).
Here, we show that a significant proportion of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 developed autoantibodies against AngII, whose presence correlates with lower blood oxygenation, blood pressure dysregulation, and overall higher disease severity. Anti-AngII antibodies can develop upon specific immune reaction to the SARS-CoV-2 proteins Spike or receptor-binding domain (RBD), to which they can cross-bind, suggesting some epitope mimicry between AngII and Spike/RBD. These results provide important insights on how an immune reaction against SARS-CoV-2 can impair blood pressure regulation.