The prevalence of IgG anti-ACE2 antibody in patients with COVID-19 and
its suggestive role in the progression of COVID-19
Abstract
Angiotensin converting enzyme-2 (ACE2), a key component in
renin-angiotensin system (RAS) has been identified as the functional
receptor for mediating the entry into the cell of SARS-CoV-2. The
correlation between anti-ACE2 antibodies and COVID-19 outcome is less
well-defined. Herein, serum sample were collected from 134 inpatients,
22 outpatients, 40 convalesces and 12 healthy individuals, with
real-time PCR-confirmed SARS-COV-2 infections. The anti-ACE2 antibodies
were tested by ELASA and anti-SARS-COV-2 antibodies were analyzed by
chemiluminescent immunoassay.We found that patients with COVID-19 show a
high prevalence of autoantibodies against ACE2 and exhibit marked
increases level compared to healthy control. The highest level of
anti-ACE2 was observed in death, male, and longer time of admission
group. Thus, significant negative association between serum anti-ACE2
antibodies levels and anti-SARS-COV-2 in different severity group was
observed. We conclude that patients with a history of SARS-CoV-2
infection had a high prevalence of Anti-ACE2 antibodies. Its negative
correlation with anti-SARS-COV-2 antibodies may lead to pro-inflammatory
responses and weaken the protective power of humoral immunity by
enhancing RAS pro-inflammatory axis.