Cytokine autoantibodies as a mechanism of immune dysregulation and disease

The clinical spectrum of SARS CoV-2-infections spans from asymptomatic to life threatening.

It was recently found that a subset of patients with critical COVID-19 harbor autoantibodies against type I interferon that impaired the protective antiviral response.

With this and other recent reports, we now realize that cytokine autoantibodies may be a common, previously overlooked mechanism behind susceptibility to infectious disease.The overarching aim of my proposed investigation is to explore cytokine autoantibodies as a mechanism behind immune dysregulation and disease.

I will initially focus on areas where cytokine autoantibodies are likely to play an important role – starting with inborn errors of immunity, and extending to COVID-19 and adverse reaction to COVID-19 vaccine.

Finally, I will assess cytokine autoantibodies using an unbiased, population-based approach to explore novel, unanticipated consequences of these autoantibodies.The study builds on our published and preliminary findings of cytokine autoantibodies in inborn errors of immunity, our established approaches for autoantibody analysis, and our ongoing international collaborations, providing access to unique cohorts of patient with inborn errors of immunity, COVID-19, and adverse reaction to COVID-19 vaccine.

We are thus well-positioned to improve understanding of the emerging area of cytokine autoantibody-mediated disease.