The oldest unvaccinated Covid-19 survivors in South America

Mateus V de Castro; Monize V R Silva; Michel S Naslavsky; Marilia O Scliar; Kelly Nunes; Maria Rita Passos-Bueno; Erick C Castelli; Jhosiene Y Magawa; Flávia L Adami; Ana I S Moretti; Vivian L de Oliveira; Silvia B Boscardin; Edecio Cunha-Neto; Jorge Kalil; Emmanuelle Jouanguy; Paul Bastard; Jean-Laurent Casanova; Mauricio Quiñones-Vega; Patricia Sosa-Acosta; Jéssica de S Guedes; Natália P de Almeida; Fábio C S Nogueira; Gilberto B Domont; Keity S Santos; Mayana Zatz

doi:10.1186/s12979-022-00310-y

The oldest unvaccinated Covid-19 survivors in South America

Immun Ageing. 2022 Nov 16;19(1):57. doi: 10.1186/s12979-022-00310-y.

Authors

Mateus V de Castro^#¹, Monize V R Silva^#¹, Michel S Naslavsky^{1

2}, Marilia O Scliar^{1

2}, Kelly Nunes^{1

2}, Maria Rita Passos-Bueno^{1

2}, Erick C Castelli^#³, Jhosiene Y Magawa^{4

5

6}, Flávia L Adami⁷, Ana I S Moretti⁴, Vivian L de Oliveira⁴, Silvia B Boscardin⁷, Edecio Cunha-Neto^{5

6}, Jorge Kalil^{4

5}, Emmanuelle Jouanguy^{8

9}, Paul Bastard^{8

9}, Jean-Laurent Casanova^{9

10}, Mauricio Quiñones-Vega^{11

12}, Patricia Sosa-Acosta^{11

12}, Jéssica de S Guedes^{11

12}, Natália P de Almeida^{11

12}, Fábio C S Nogueira^{11

12}, Gilberto B Domont¹¹, Keity S Santos^#^{4

5

6}, Mayana Zatz^{13

14}

Affiliations

¹ Human Genome and Stem Cell Research Center, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
² Department of Genetics and Evolutionary Biology, Biosciences Institute, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
³ Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, UNESP - São Paulo State University, Botucatu, São Paulo, Brazil.
⁴ Laboratório de Imunologia, Instituto do Coração (InCor), LIM19, Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo, (HCFMUSP), São Paulo, Brazil.
⁵ Instituto de Investigação em Imunologia-Instituto Nacional de Ciências e Tecnologia-iii-INCT, São Paulo, Brazil.
⁶ Departamento de Clínica Médica, Disciplina de Imunologia Clínica e Alergia, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
⁷ Laboratory of Antigen Targeting to Dendritic Cells, Department of Parasitology, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
⁸ Laboratory of Human Genetics of Infectious Diseases, Necker Branch, INSERM U1163, Necker Hospital for Sick Children, Paris, France.
⁹ Imagine Institute, University of Paris, Paris, France.
¹⁰ St. Giles Laboratory of Human Genetics of Infectious Diseases, Rockefeller Branch, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY, USA.
¹¹ Proteomics Unit, Department of Biochemistry, Institute of Chemistry, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
¹² Laboratory of Proteomics (LabProt), Institute of Chemistry, LADETEC, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
¹³ Human Genome and Stem Cell Research Center, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil. mayazatz@usp.br.
¹⁴ Department of Genetics and Evolutionary Biology, Biosciences Institute, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil. mayazatz@usp.br.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Background: Although older adults are at a high risk of severe or critical Covid-19, there are many cases of unvaccinated centenarians who had a silent infection or recovered from mild or moderate Covid-19. We studied three Brazilian supercentenarians, older than 110 years, who survived Covid-19 in 2020 before being vaccinated.

Results: Despite their advanced age, humoral immune response analysis showed that these individuals displayed robust levels of IgG and neutralizing antibodies (NAbs) against SARS-CoV-2. Enrichment of plasma proteins and metabolites related to innate immune response and host defense was also observed. None presented autoantibodies (auto-Abs) to type I interferon (IFN). Furthermore, these supercentenarians do not carry rare variants in genes underlying the known inborn errors of immunity, including particular inborn errors of type I IFN.

Conclusion: These observations suggest that their Covid-19 resilience might be a combination of their genetic background and their innate and adaptive immunity.

Keywords: Covid-19; Elderly; SARS-CoV-2; Supercentenarians.