Relationship between gene expression patterns from nasopharyngeal swabs and serum biomarkers in patients hospitalized with COVID-19, following treatment with the neutralizing monoclonal antibody bamlanivimab

Abstract

Background

A thorough understanding of a patient’s inflammatory response to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection is crucial to discerning the associated, underlying immunological processes and to the selection and implementation of treatment strategies. Defining peripheral blood biomarkers relevant to SARS-CoV-2 infection is fundamental to detecting and monitoring this systemic disease. This safety-focused study aims to monitor and characterize the immune response to SARS-CoV-2 infection via analysis of peripheral blood and nasopharyngeal swab samples obtained from patients hospitalized with Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), in the presence or absence of bamlanivimab treatment.

Methods

23 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 were randomized to receive a single dose of the neutralizing monoclonal antibody, bamlanivimab (700 mg, 2800 mg or 7000 mg) or placebo, at study initiation (Clinical Trial; NCT04411628). Serum samples and nasopharyngeal swabs were collected at multiple time points over 1 month. A Proximity Extension Array was used to detect inflammatory profiles from protein biomarkers in the serum of hospitalized COVID-19 patients relative to age/sex-matched healthy controls. RNA sequencing was performed on nasopharyngeal swabs. A Luminex serology assay and Elecsys® Anti-SARS-CoV-2 immunoassay were used to detect endogenous antibody formation and to monitor seroconversion in each cohort over time. A mixed model for repeated measures approach was used to analyze changes in serology and serum proteins over time.

Results

Levels of IL-6, CXCL10, CXCL11, IFNγ and MCP-3 were > fourfold higher in the serum of patients with COVID-19 versus healthy controls and linked with observations of inflammatory and viral-induced interferon response genes detected in nasopharyngeal swab samples from the same patients. While IgA and IgM titers peaked around 7 days post-dose, IgG titers remained high, even after 28 days. Changes in biomarkers over time were not significantly different between the bamlanivimab and placebo groups.

Conclusions

Similarities observed between nasopharyngeal gene expression patterns and peripheral blood biomarker profiles reveal a connection between the circulation and processes in the nasopharyngeal cavity, reinforcing the potential utility of systemic blood biomarker profiling for therapeutic monitoring of patient response. Serological antibody responses in patients correlated closely with reductions in the COVID-19 inflammatory protein biomarker signature. Bamlanivimab did not affect the biomarker dynamics in this hospitalized patient population.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12967-022-03345-3.