Detection of IgM and IgG antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 in patients with autoimmune diseases
Jialin Teng †
Jin Dai †
Yutong Su †
Zhuochao Zhou
Huihui Chi
Liyan Wan
Published:May 18, 2020DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/S2665-9913(20)30128-4
Detection of IgM and IgG antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 in patients with autoimmune diseases
In December, 2019, an outbreak of the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) occurred in Wuhan, China,1 and soon spread all over the world. Rapid and accurate diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection is the cornerstone of all efforts to stem its advancement. Molecular detection via RT-PCR can result in falsely negative results due to the low viral loads in a sample. Serological methods are being developed and have proven to be a useful supplementary approach in confirming SARS-CoV-2 infection.2 The US Food and Drug Administration has issued numerous Emergency Use Authorisations, including serological tests; however, the potential for cross-reactivity with antibodies present in the sera of patients with other diseases remains largely unknown. Cross-reactivity of antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 with antibodies against other coronaviruses, such as SARS-CoV, has been shown.3 In addition, cross-reactivity has been observed from autoantibodies in serum samples from patients with autoimmune disease when testing for SARS-CoV,4 which shares high sequence identity with SARS-CoV-2. As such, we wanted to determine whether autoantibodies interfere with detection of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies.
