Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Nov;95(11):e29247.
doi: 10.1002/jmv.29247.

High sera levels of SARS-CoV-2 N antigen are associated with death in hospitalized COVID-19 patients

Houssem Redha Chenane  1 , Guillaume Lingas  1 , Reyene Menidjel  1 , Cédric Laouenan  1   2 , Sarah Tubiana  1   2 , Diane Descamps  1   3 , Quentin Le Hingrat  1   3 , Laurent Abel  4   5   6 , Jérémie Guedj  1 , Surbhi Malhotra  7 , Samir Kumar-Singh  7   8 , Benoit Visseaux  1 , Jade Ghosn  1   9 , Charlotte Charpentier  1   3 , Samuel Lebourgeois  1 ; French COVID Cohort Study Group
Affiliations

High sera levels of SARS-CoV-2 N antigen are associated with death in hospitalized COVID-19 patients

Houssem Redha Chenane et al. J Med Virol. 2023 Nov.

Abstract

The presence of free severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) nucleocapsid-antigen in sera (N-antigenemia) has been shown in COVID-19 patients. However, the link between the quantitative levels of N-antigenemia and COVID-19 disease severity is not entirely understood. To assess the dynamics and clinical association of N-antigen sera levels with disease severity in COVID-19 patients, we analyzed data from patients included in the French COVID cohort, with at least one sera sample between January and September 2020. We assessed N-antigenemia levels and anti-N IgG titers, and patient outcomes was classified in two groups, survival or death. In samples collected within 8 days since symptom onset, we observed that deceased patients had a higher positivity rate (93% vs. 81%; p < 0.001) and higher median levels of predicted N-antigenemia (2500 vs. 1200 pg/mL; p < 0.001) than surviving patients. Predicted time to N-antigen clearance in sera was prolonged in deceased patients compared to survivors (23.3 vs 19.3 days; p < 0.0001). In a subset of patients with both sera and nasopharyngeal (NP) swabs, predicted time to N-antigen clearance in sera was prolonged in deceased patients (p < 0.001), whereas NP viral load clearance did not differ between the groups (p = 0.07). Our results demonstrate a strong relationship between N-antigenemia levels and COVID-19 severity on a prospective cohort.

Keywords: COVID-19; antigenemia; hospitalized; serological marker; severity.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

REFERENCES

    1. Bohn MK, Lippi G, Horvath A, et al. Molecular, serological, and biochemical diagnosis and monitoring of COVID-19: IFCC taskforce evaluation of the latest evidence. Clin Chem Labo Med (CCLM). 2020;58(7):1037-1052. doi:10.1515/cclm-2020-0722
    1. Néant N, Lingas G, Le Hingrat Q, et al. Modeling SARS-CoV-2 viral kinetics and association with mortality in hospitalized patients from the French COVID cohort. Proc Nat Acad Sci. 2021;118(8):e2017962118. doi:10.1073/pnas.2017962118
    1. Zou L, Ruan F, Huang M, et al. SARS-CoV-2 viral load in upper respiratory specimens of infected patients. N Engl J Med. 2020;382(12):1177-1179. doi:10.1056/NEJMc2001737
    1. Han MS, Byun JH, Cho Y, Rim JH. RT-PCR for SARS-CoV-2: quantitative versus qualitative. Lancet Infect Dis. 2021;21(2):165. doi:10.1016/S1473-3099(20)30424-2
    1. Veyer D, Kernéis S, Poulet G, et al. Highly sensitive quantification of plasma severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 RNA sheds light on its potential clinical value. Clin Infect Dis. 2021;73(9):e2890-e2897. doi:10.1093/cid/ciaa1196

Publication types

Substances

LinkOut - more resources