SARS-CoV-2 Serologic Immune Response in Exogenously Immunosuppressed Patients
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Nov 24, 2025
Detection of SARS-CoV-2 Neutralizing Antibodies using High-Throughput Fluorescent Imaging of Pseudovirus Infection
Published on: June 5, 2021
Megan L Zilla1, Christian Keetch1, Gretchen Mitchell1
1Department of Pathology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
Background:
While it is presumed that immunosuppressed patients, such as solid organ transplant recipients on immunosuppression, are at greater risk from SARS-CoV-2 infection than the general population, the antibody response to infection in this patient population has not been studied.
Methods:
In this report, we follow the anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody levels in patients with COVID-19 who are undergoing exogenous immunosuppression. Specifically, we studied the antibody response of 3 solid organ transplant recipient patients, 3 patients who take daily inhaled fluticasone, and a patient on etanercept and daily inhaled fluticasone, and compared them to 5 patients not on exogenous immunosuppression.
Results:
We found that the solid organ transplant patients on full immunosuppression are at risk of having a delayed antibody response and poor outcome. We did not find evidence that inhaled steroids or etanercept predispose patients to delayed immune response to SARS-CoV-2.
Conclusion:
The data presented here suggest that solid organ transplant recipients may be good candidates for early targeted intervention against SARS-CoV-2.
