Epidemiological and Immunological Features of Obesity and SARS-CoV-2

Eric J Nilles; Sameed M Siddiqui; Stephanie Fischinger; Yannic C Bartsch; Michael de St Aubin; Guohai Zhou; Matthew J Gluck; Samuel Berger; Justin Rhee; Eric Petersen; Benjamin Mormann; Michael Loesche; Yiyuan Hu; Zhilin Chen; Jingyou Yu; Makda Gebre; Caroline Atyeo; Matthew J Gorman; Alex Lee Zhu; John Burke; Matthew Slein; Mohammad A Hasdianda; Guruprasad Jambaulikar; Edward W Boyer; Pardis C Sabeti; Dan H Barouch; Boris Julg; Adam J Kucharski; Elon R Musk; Douglas A Lauffenburger; Galit Alter; Anil S Menon

doi:10.3390/v13112235

Epidemiological and Immunological Features of Obesity and SARS-CoV-2

Viruses. 2021 Nov 6;13(11):2235. doi: 10.3390/v13112235.

Authors

Eric J Nilles^{1

2

3

4}, Sameed M Siddiqui^{5

6}, Stephanie Fischinger⁷, Yannic C Bartsch⁷, Michael de St Aubin³, Guohai Zhou^{1

2}, Matthew J Gluck⁸, Samuel Berger⁸, Justin Rhee⁸, Eric Petersen⁸, Benjamin Mormann^{1

8}, Michael Loesche^{1

8}, Yiyuan Hu⁸, Zhilin Chen⁷, Jingyou Yu^{7

9}, Makda Gebre^{7

9}, Caroline Atyeo⁷, Matthew J Gorman⁷, Alex Lee Zhu⁷, John Burke⁷, Matthew Slein⁷, Mohammad A Hasdianda^{1

2}, Guruprasad Jambaulikar^{1

2}, Edward W Boyer^{1

2}, Pardis C Sabeti^{4

6

9

10}, Dan H Barouch^{6

11}, Boris Julg⁶, Adam J Kucharski¹², Elon R Musk⁸, Douglas A Lauffenburger¹³, Galit Alter^{4

6}, Anil S Menon⁸

Affiliations

¹ Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
² Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
³ Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, Boston, MA 02114, USA.
⁴ Massachusetts Consortium on Pathogen Readiness, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
⁵ Computational and Systems Biology Program, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
⁶ Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA.
⁷ Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
⁸ Space Exploration Technologies Corp., Hawthorne, CA 90250, USA.
⁹ Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
¹⁰ Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chevy Chase, MD 20815, USA.
¹¹ Center for Virology and Vaccine Research, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
¹² London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London WC1E 7HT, UK.
¹³ Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.

Abstract

Obesity is a key correlate of severe SARS-CoV-2 outcomes while the role of obesity on risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection, symptom phenotype, and immune response remain poorly defined. We examined data from a prospective SARS-CoV-2 cohort study to address these questions. Serostatus, body mass index, demographics, comorbidities, and prior COVID-19 compatible symptoms were assessed at baseline and serostatus and symptoms monthly thereafter. SARS-CoV-2 immunoassays included an IgG ELISA targeting the spike RBD, multiarray Luminex targeting 20 viral antigens, pseudovirus neutralization, and T cell ELISPOT assays. Our results from a large prospective SARS-CoV-2 cohort study indicate symptom phenotype is strongly influenced by obesity among younger but not older age groups; we did not identify evidence to suggest obese individuals are at higher risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection; and remarkably homogenous immune activity across BMI categories suggests immune protection across these groups may be similar.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; body mass index; clinical features; epidemiology; immunity; obesity.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Adult
Age Factors
Antibodies, Viral / blood*
Body Mass Index
COVID-19 / complications*
COVID-19 / epidemiology
COVID-19 / immunology*
COVID-19 / physiopathology
Female
Humans
Immunoglobulin G / blood
Male
Middle Aged
Obesity / complications*
Obesity / immunology*
Risk Factors
SARS-CoV-2 / immunology
Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus / immunology*
Young Adult

Substances

Antibodies, Viral
Immunoglobulin G
Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus
spike protein, SARS-CoV-2

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances

Grants and funding