• Media type: E-Article
  • Title: HCoV-NL63 and SARS-CoV-2 Share Recognized Epitopes by the Humoral Response in Sera of People Collected Pre- and during CoV-2 Pandemic
  • Contributor: Simula, Elena Rita; Manca, Maria Antonietta; Jasemi, Seyedsomaye; Uzzau, Sergio; Rubino, Salvatore; Manchia, Pierangela; Bitti, Angela; Palermo, Mario; Sechi, Leonardo A.
  • Published: MDPI AG, 2020
  • Published in: Microorganisms, 8 (2020) 12, Seite 1993
  • Language: English
  • DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms8121993
  • ISSN: 2076-2607
  • Origination:
  • Footnote:
  • Description: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) can cause serious illness in older adults and people with chronic underlying medical conditions; however, children and young people are often asymptomatic or with mild symptoms. We evaluated the presence of specific antibodies (Abs) response against Human coronavirus NL63 (HCoV-NL63) S protein epitopes (NL63-RBM1, NL63-RBM2_1, NL63-RBM2_2, NL63-RBM3, NL63-SPIKE541–554, and NL63-DISC-like) and SARS-CoV-2 epitopes (COV2-SPIKE421–434 and COV2-SPIKE742–759) in plasma samples of pre-pandemic, mid-pandemic, and COVID-19 cohorts by indirect ELISA. Moreover, a competitive assay was performed to check for cross reactivity response between COV2-SPIKE421–434 and NL63-RBM3 among patients with a definitive diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2. Immune reaction against all SARS-CoV-2 and HCoV-NL63 epitopes showed a significantly higher response in pre-pandemic patients compared to mid-pandemic patients. The results indicate that probably antibodies against HCoV-NL63 may be able to cross react with SARS-CoV-2 epitopes and the higher incidence in pre-pandemic was probably due to the timing of collection when a high incidence of HCoV-NL63 is reported. In addition, the competitive assay showed cross-reactivity between antibodies directed against COV2-SPIKE421–434 and NL63-RBM3 peptides. Pre-existing HCoV-NL63 antibody response cross reacting with SARS-CoV-2 has been detected in both pre- and mid-pandemic individual, suggesting that previous exposure to HCoV-NL63 epitopes may produce antibodies which could confer a protective immunity against SARS-CoV-2 and probably reduce the severity of the disease.
  • Access State: Open Access