Thrombosis and antiphospholipid antibodies in Japanese COVID-19: based on propensity score matching.

Background

Thrombosis is a unique complication of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Although antiphospholipid antibodies (aPL) are detected in COVID-19 patients, their clinical significance remains elusive. We evaluated the prevalence of aPL and serum concentrations of beta-2 glycoprotein I (β2GPI), a major self-antigen for aPL, in Japanese COVID-19 patients with and without thrombosis.

Methods

This retrospective single-center nested case-control study included 594 hospitalized patients with COVID-19 between January 2020 and August 2021. Thrombotic complications were collected from medical records. Propensity score-matching method (PSM) (1:2 matching including age, sex, severity on admission, and prior history of thrombosis) was performed to compare the prevalence and titer of aPL (anti-cardiolipin (aCL) IgG/IgM, anti-β2GPI IgG/IgM/IgA, and anti-phosphatidylserine/prothrombin antibody (aPS/PT) IgG/IgM) and serum β2GPI concentration. In addition, PSM (1:1 matching including age and sex) was performed to compare the serum β2GPI concentration between COVID-19 patients and healthy donors.

Results

Among the patients, 31 patients with thrombosis and 62 patients without were compared. The prevalence of any aPLs was indifferent regardless of the thrombosis (41.9% in those with thrombosis

Conclusion

Although aPLs were frequently detected in Japanese COVID-19 patients, their prevalence and titer were irrelevant to thrombotic complications. While COVID-19 patients have lower levels of serum β2GPI than healthy blood donors, β2GPI levels were indifferent regardless of thrombosis. Although most of the titers were below cut-offs, positive correlations were observed among aPLs, suggesting that the immune reactions against aPL antigens were induced by COVID-19. We should focus on the long-term thromboembolic risk and the development of APS in the aPL-positive patients with high titer or multiple aPLs.

Informations de copyright

Copyright © 2023 Oba, Hosoya, Kaneshige, Kawata, Yamaguchi, Mitsumura, Shimada, Shibata, Tateishi, Koike, Tohda, Hirakawa, Yoko, Otomo, Nojima, Miyazaki and Yasuda.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

SY received research funding from Abbvie, Asahi Kasei, Pharma, Chugai Pharmaceutical, CSL Behring, Eisai, ImmunoForge, Mitsubishi Tanabe, Pharma, and Ono Pharmaceutical, speaking fees from Abbvie, Asahi Kasei Pharma, Chugai Pharmaceutical, Eisai, Eli Lilly, GlaxoSmithKline, Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma, Ono pharmaceutical, and Pfizer. YM received a research grant and an honorarium from Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. TH received a research grant from Sony corporation. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.