Reduced Cell Surface Levels of C-C Chemokine Receptor 5 and Immunosuppression in Long Coronavirus Disease 2019 Syndrome

Norman B Gaylis; Angela Ritter; Scott A Kelly; Nader Z Pourhassan; Meenakshi Tiwary; Jonah B Sacha; Scott G Hansen; Christopher Recknor; Otto O Yang

doi:10.1093/cid/ciac226

Reduced Cell Surface Levels of C-C Chemokine Receptor 5 and Immunosuppression in Long Coronavirus Disease 2019 Syndrome

Clin Infect Dis. 2022 Sep 30;75(7):1232-1234. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciac226.

Authors

Norman B Gaylis¹, Angela Ritter², Scott A Kelly³, Nader Z Pourhassan³, Meenakshi Tiwary⁴, Jonah B Sacha⁴, Scott G Hansen⁴, Christopher Recknor³, Otto O Yang^{5

6}

Affiliations

¹ Arthritis & Rheumatic Disease Specialties, Aventura, Florida, USA.
² Center for Advanced Research & Education, Gainesville, Georgia, USA.
³ CytoDyn, Vancouver, Washington, USA.
⁴ Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute and Oregon National Primate Research Center, Oregon Health & Science University, Beaverton, Oregon, USA.
⁵ Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California-Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA.
⁶ Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics, University of California-Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA.

Abstract

In an exploratory trial treating "long COVID" with the CCR5-binding antibody leronlimab, we observed significantly increased blood cell surface CCR5 in treated symptomatic responders but not in nonresponders or placebo-treated participants. These findings suggest an unexpected mechanism of abnormal immune downmodulation in some persons that is normalized by leronlimab. Clinical Trials Registration. NCT04678830.

Keywords: CCR5; immunosuppression; leronlimab; long COVID.

Publication types

Clinical Trial
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

COVID-19*
Chemokines, CC
Humans
Immunosuppression Therapy
Receptors, CCR5

Substances

Chemokines, CC
Receptors, CCR5

Associated data

ClinicalTrials.gov/NCT04678830